


Side Stories of Downworlder Dads

by soufflegirl123



Series: Downworlder Dads [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Asexual Raphael Santiago, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, fluff fluff fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-04-06 10:15:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 50,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14054736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soufflegirl123/pseuds/soufflegirl123
Summary: All those extra scenes I promised to go along with Downworlder Dads1. Dad2.Dad 2.3. A night in.4. Promptfic: HurtMagnus!5. Uncle Jace pt16. Grandma7. Uncle Jace pt28. Promptfic: HurtRaphael!9. Promptfic: HurtAlec!10. Downworlder flu11.Promptfic: Assurance12. At the Club13. Sleeping Beauty 114. Sleeping Beauty 215.Proposal16. Grounded17. Back to School18.  Promptfic: "battle!Malec + Raphael" (and slime demons)19. 5 Times + 1 Time20. Malec Wedding Pt. 1





	1. The D Word

The first day back in Magnus’s apartment, Raphael had slept straight through the night and then half of the next day. He had wrongly assumed that that meant he was fine, and that the night terrors had stopped. On the second night, he had slept restlessly, but he stubbornly blamed it on having slept too much the night earlier and also trying to adjust to having a daylighter schedule. He had used both excuses with Magnus and Alec when they had found him sprawled on the sofa at eight in the morning watching the morning news.

“I know you’re trying to adjust to a regular pattern of sorts-,” Magnus began.

“Four to nine,” Raphael confirmed. Five hours was plenty of sleep for a vampire, and morning rush people tended to be the most unpleasant which was why he had picked that period of time.

“Yes, well, you’re still recovering. You need more than five hours this first week.”

“That’s why I’m on the sofa.”

Magnus sighed deeply while scrubbing at his face. Alec, who looked far more awake, tried to help.

“What your Papa is trying to say is that the morning news is loud, and he’s very much a ‘not before ten, preferably twelve’ kind of morning person. Also, you’re still recovering which means you need actual sleep.”

Raphael muted the tv. “How’s that?”

Magnus’s fingertips were at his temples, and his body was directed toward the bar though that would take too much effort so early in the morning. “My darling boy, I would strangle you right now if I thought it would do me any good.”

“I don’t need to breathe but feel free to try.”

Magnus grinned and rolled his eyes.

“Budge over.”

Magnus slid onto the couch next to him while Alec disappeared to make some coffee. Magnus’s hand running through his hair released the tension he had been holding, and shortly after Alec returned to squeeze in on the couch with them Raphael fell back asleep. 

The third night, Magnus was out on an emergency errand of some sort. There was no substitute for the High Warlock of Brooklyn after all. Raphael had fallen asleep waiting on his return, his injuries exhausting him more than he would like, and that was when the night terrors returned with full force. Rather than phantom pain from his too recent injuries, all he could see was the hallucination Asmodeus had caused him to suffer.

It always started out the same, in the same mocking state of happiness that he knew would disappear, and all he could do was watch. There was always Magnus and Alec, but in the dreams they weren’t Magnus and Alec. They were Papa and Dad, and they were fawning over him. It should have been annoying, but he liked it. It always ended though, too quick. The dream became a nightmare. Brunch became a massacre. Heads of his friends appeared on platters, their body parts mixed into casseroles. The worst was when the dream continued, and Magnus and Alec, both grinning eerily unfamiliar grins, turned and stabbed each other in their hearts while he stood helplessly nearby.

He was screaming before he could help it. Their names ripped from his throat, and his terror turned to pleading. He was gasping for air that he didn’t need until he felt someone pulling him up. 

“Wake up.” The command was so familiar that it broke through his state immediately. 

“Papa?” he asked tiredly trying to shake off the fog left from the terror.

“No, it’s me.” 

“Dad,” his brain supplied automatically as he remembered the first part of the dream. The word fell from his mouth without any hesitation.

The arms around him stiffened ever so slightly, just for a split second, and it took Raphael a moment to process why.

“Oh, my apologies,” he pulled back. 

“No it’s fine. Better than fine,” Alec quickly assured. “How are you though?”

Raphael scrubbed at the tear tracks. “I’ve been better.” . 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, I’m tired.”

“Do you want some tranquilizer? Magnus left some just in case.”

It was tempting, but he didn’t want to become reliant on the stuff. Plus he hated the after effects. “I don’t want to feel loopy all day.”

“Let me know if you change your mind.” 

Then he was being rearranged. Hands tugged him down and adjusted the blankets around him. In his half asleep state, he didn’t protest. He wasn’t even startled when the taller man stretched out beside him. 

“Are you staying in here?” he mumbled.

“Yep. It’s too far to walk back.”

“Liar.”

Alec huffed out a laugh. “Just go with it.”

“Will you talk?”

“Hm?”

“Just until I fall back asleep,” he quickly added.

“What about?”

“Anything?”

“Okay,” Alec paused for a moment trying to think of something. “He’s hoping that you’ll stay with us after you’ve recovered.”

“I know.”

“I’m hoping you will too.”

That was surprising. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m not.”

“Why would you want me to stay here when I could just visit every so often and you could have your own space with Magnus?”

“Because I didn’t get to be here when you first became Magnus’s son, and maybe it’s selfish, but I want the opportunity that he had.”

“You just want to be a dad. You and Magnus will adopt a baby one day, and you’ll get all that.”

“This isn’t my wanting a baby. If Magnus and I decide on that, it’s an entirely different matter. I want a relationship with you like what you and Magnus have.” 

“Why me?”

“Why not?”

“Fine. You can’t ground me though. I’m too old.”

“We’ll see.” 

Raphael rolled his eyes. “Well then, Dad,” he emphasized the title, “you better have a good bedtime story for me if either of us are going to get any sleep tonight.”

“Oh yeah, Let me tell you about Jace and the duck. You’ll love this one.”

Raphael chuckled and turned to fit in Alec’s hold a little better. He could be embarrassed about things in the morning. In the meantime, he just wanted some sleep. He drifted off quickly. Alec’s presence was calming as always, and he slept deeply enough for the rest of the night that he didn’t even notice Magnus’s return. 

Magnus glanced over his husband and son and quickly figured out the situation. The tear tracks were still evident, and Magnus felt his heart break a little at the thought that he hadn’t been there. 

“Don’t just stand there,” Alec teased, immediately lightening the mood. 

Magnus swiftly changed into his own sleep clothes and rid himself of his makeup before climbing into the other side of the bed. 

“Thank you for being here,” he whispered.

“There’s no need to thank me. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” Alec replied and reached out a hand to his husband. 

The next morning Raphael woke trapped between their bodies. He tried to slip out of the bed, but Magnus tightened his hold. “It’s not even seven. Go back to sleep.”

Raphael groaned and turned towards Alec with the intent of climbing out of that side of the bed. 

“You heard him,” Alec replied. “Sleep.”

Raphael flopped back down between them. “Fine, but only for another hour or two.”

“Whatever you say, sweet one,” Magnus replied in that tone that meant he was just humoring him. 

The three of them slept for another three hours, and even then, it was only Alec who woke and carefully slipped from the bed. He might have been on family leave, but he still wanted to keep tabs on the rest of his family at the institute. He also was feeling rather hungry and wanted to get something started before the others woke up.

Magnus woke next. He could smell coffee and knew immediately where Alec was, so he let himself relax and watch his son sleep for a few moments. He loved having him in the apartment again. It had been a long time since he had had his son live with him, and while they had always been close, there had been several spans of time where they were both so busy that they had barely managed to see each other for months at a time. 

“I think you should stay here with us for awhile after you’ve recovered, my darling,” he admitted once he thought no one could hear him. To his surprise, his son was not quite as unconscious as he had thought.

“I know, Papa. Dad already said the same things, and I’ve agreed to it. For now anyway,” Raphael replied around a yawn before snuggling deeper into the blankets. 

“Dad?”

“He said it again then?” Alec asked from his spot in the doorway. ‘

“Again?”

“Twice last night. We bonded.”

“And you’re…not bothered?”

“Pretty pleased by it actually. It feels…right. Does it bother you?”

Magnus shook his head. “It’s everything I ever wanted,” he admitted. “My own strange little family.”

Raphael groaned. “Take the mushiness to another room. You two were the ones who wanted me to get more sleep.”

“Whatever you say, sweet boy. Just remember, we’ve got a whole eternity of this to enjoy.”

“It’s going to be a long eternity.”

“That’s what we’re planning on.”


	2. The D Word part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The others get a chance to hear it.

It had been weeks since his return. He was finally up to full strength, and the night terrors barely made an appearance anymore. Alec had returned to his role as head of the institute, and Magnus was taking on as many jobs as he ever was before. Raphael was finally being left on his own without any hovering parental figures for hours at a time. It should have been great, but he had no idea what to do with all the sudden free time. 

He found himself returning to the senior center and helping out there. Though Rosa had passed away peacefully many years before and he had accepted it, for the most part, there were still others there who never had visitors. It helped to ease some of the aches he got from thinking about her by spending time with the people who had been her friends, so he still went to bingo and cooked meals and went for regular visits with the others. The residents had been surprised to find him there during the daylight hours, but he made up an excuse about homeschooling and doing classes in the evenings. It went with his earlier lie about him dropping by after classes since everyone thought he was an actual teenager.

Sometimes he dropped in at the hotel too, just to see how his old clan was doing, and to be around people who remembered exactly how old he was. It was good to be around people who sought him out as a mentor. It was a chance to breathe between all the parental devotion which was appreciated but overwhelming at times. He did have to limit his time at the hotel to prevent anyone from thinking he had any intentions of returning as their leader, but he found himself wandering over for a few hours about every over week. 

His newest hobby involved helping out with Magnus’s odd jobs, doing things like tagging along a form of backup, which was what it was, and it was definitely not a take your child to work day despite the one joke Magnus had said about it before nervously chuckling under the withering glare Raphael had sent his way. Magnus seldom needed backup on his jobs though, so most of Raphael’s part involved running errands to gather ingredients or even helping to make basic potions. Magnus was delighted by it all, always offering to teach him new skills though there was a limit to what he as a non-warlock could learn, and Raphael enjoyed how excited Magnus would get whenever he was teaching something new.

He had a plenty of things to do, and still, he was bored. He never thought the day would come when he would miss bailing Simon out of the trouble of the day. When Alec called him and asked him to help out with a situation involving the shadowhunters, Raphael practically raced out of the apartment and straight to the institute. If he was really lucky, Simon and Clary would have joined forces to cause whatever chaos was happening, and he would be busy for at least two days cleaning up the mess of it all. 

He was relatively surprised to arrive and find that nothing was in shambles. Then again he should have suspected as much since Alec had sounded remarkably calm during their phone call, even for him. There was a group of ten Shadowhunters gathered in the main room when he stepped inside, though the one who had called him was noticeably absent. All of the others were staring at something on the screen, and they didn’t even notice that he had entered thanks to the adjustments that had been made on the wards. Alec would be so disappointed when Raphael ratted them out later. 

“What’s the situation then?” he asked, delighting in the way that most of them jumped at his voice before leaping to attention.

Isabelle just smirked at him from over a screen.“It’s so fun watching you surprise people.” She waved him over. “Alec said you would be here and asked me to fill you in until he could get free. There have been some mysterious attacks lately.”

“What kind of mysterious attacks?”

“The kind that leaves corpses looking disturbingly like jerky. The bite marks are similar to a vampire attack. Also, the fangs seem to pierce slightly deeper than the average vampire fangs, and rather than an absorption of blood it’s an absorption of the water in the bodies.” 

Raphael looked over the pictures, noting the details she had pointed out. “That’s a new one for here.”

“Do you have any ideas about what it could be?”

“It sounds familiar. I would just need to check the…,” he trailed off as Alec entered the room with Jace. Both were armed to go out on patrol.“Hey, Dad, do you have a copy of the Terra Incognita’s Bestiary in the collection here?” he called out loud enough that Alec could hear him over the muddle of conversations happening in the room by the shadowhunters who were trying to look busy since their boss was in the room. 

The conversations disappeared immediately. The room went silent, and Raphael reviewed what it was he had just said before swearing between his teeth.

Alec, who was acting remarkably oblivious to the embarrassing situation Raphael had just dug his way into, thought for a moment. “We should have a copy of it. Let me check.” 

Isabelle snapped out of own her stupor. “I can just pull it up on the database. If we have it, it’ll be listed in there.”

“Thanks, Iz.”

Everyone had gone back to murmuring, but Raphael could hear their statements even if they were trying to be much quieter than before. None of them were talking about the mysterious attacks or any other shadowhunter business. Instead, they were talking about him. Even Jace, who had leaned into toward Alec was whispering in a not quite subtle enough way.

“He called you dad.”

“Yeah?” Alec replied not bothering to drop his own voice. He was well aware of just how good Raphael’s hearing was. The first few weeks of them living together had been filled with Alec testing just how loud he could be without Raphael hearing. It was both out of Alec’s own need to not be overheard doing certain activities and also a consideration that Raphael might not want to hear what was happening in his parents’ bedroom or any of the other locations they might happen to pick. To be fair though Magnus did set up a nice one way sound proof barrier to help save Raphael’s sanity. Still, Alec had learned during that time exactly what Raphael’s hearing limitations were. The others though seemed oblivious.

Jace, who seemed even more confused by Alec’s response, kept whispering. “He didn’t do it in a joking way. It sounded very real.”

“Yeah, you knew that that was the situation.”

“I don’t think I did.”

Alec shrugged. “Well, now you do.” He walked over to Raphael, his face brightening as he did. “You think you know what this is then?”

“I have a pretty good idea of it could be,” Raphael replied, grateful that they were not discussing the awkward situation. 

“I should keep you on retainer. It would definitely help things around here.”

“I’m pretty sure living in the same apartment is just as effective as keeping me on retainer.”

“Not if Magnus steals you for one of his jobs first.”

Isabelle glanced up from her search. “We have a copy in the library. I can show you while they keep searching for a pattern in the locations,” she offered. 

The others were still murmuring, and Raphael was eager to get out of their attention or at least to a place where he couldn’t overhear them. “Let’s go then.”

“This way,” she said, linking arms with him and steering him from the main room.

“He really calls you dad. Like, it’s real,” Jace murmured in amazement once Isabelle and Raphael had left, and everyone else in the room was distracted with their own tasks. 

“Yes, he really did,” Alec confirmed again patiently. He knew why it was taking so long to sink it. Raphael’s image with others was very different than the person he was at home. 

“I’m just a surprised that he’s so comfortable with it. He’s always come off as so reserved.”

“That’s because you’ve mostly dealt with him in formal settings. He’s one of those strange people who actually acts professionally in professional settings.”

“You were happy when he did it,” Jace pointed out while keeping his voice low. “I’ve felt you feel happy before with Magnus, but this was- is that what parenthood feels like?”

“Yeah, I think it is.”

“Good. That’s good,” Jace trailed off. 

“Are you and Clary-?”

“No-well-maybe. We’re still talking about trying.”

“You’ll be good at it. I know you will,” Alec assured, knowing already what it was that his parabatai was actually concerned about. 

“I just wish there was a way I could know.”

“I’d offer to lend you my son for a day to give things a try, but he’s not exactly the right age for that.”

“I’d rather keep living as it is. Thanks though.”

“You know. If you do ever want to talk-”

“I know.”

“Good. Just because I now have both a husband and a son doesn’t mean that I’m too busy for you.” 

“I know.”

“Are you sure you know?”

“I’m sure.”

Alec nodded approvingly.

Jace meanwhile rolled his eyes. “I would say that dad thing kicks in quick, but this is how you’ve always been.”

Alec snorted. “C’mon. Let’s see if we can find out where this thing might strike next. I have a feeling that everyone’s going to be in the mood to punch something later.”

In the library of the institute, Isabelle and Raphael were scanning the shelves.

“It should be in this section,” Isabelle pointed out. Raphael’s eyes landed on the familiar cover, and he darted up the ladder to grab it.

“So, you and Alec-” Isabelle started as Raphael searched the codex.

‘Don’t say it like that. You make us sound like a couple.”

Isabelle let out a breathy laugh. “I think this is actually weirder.”

Raphael glanced up. “Does it bother you?”

“No, You’re happy. He’s happy. That’s all I care about. It’s just a little weird considering that you and I almost dated, and now you’re my brother’s son. It’s all kinds of Game of Thrones level of strange.”

“I vaguely get that reference.”

“Simon and I watch it together. There’s a lot of complicated relationships.”

“Is it any good?”

“Yeah, but it’s the kind of show you don’t watch with your parents, if you get what I’m saying.”

He could only imagine what she meant by that, but he trusted her opinion on the matter and determined that he would not be taking Magnus up on that particular marathon offer. 

“Noted.” He scanned through the book until he found what it was that he was searching for. “Here it is.” 

Isabelle leaned over his shoulder. “You’re sure.”

“Positive.”

“Then I guess we better go tell Alec and the others.”

“Yeah, Dad will be waiting.” He tried out the word carefully. There was no point in hiding things any longer.

“I think about five more times, and then it will sound normal.”

“That’s faster than it took me.”

“Well, I’ve always been the adaptable one.” 

Raphael lingered for a few moments. 

“Is everything okay?” Isabelle asked. 

They had gotten close during their almost dating period, which was the only reason that Raphael replied with the truth. “Do you think he minds that I called him that in front of everyone? People already give him a hard time about having a Downworlder husband. I can only imagine how thrilled they will be now that he has a Downworlder for a son, especially one like me.”

“Of course, he doesn’t mind!” Isabelle quickly assured. “Didn’t you see how pleased he was? I thought he was going to start dancing for joy. I can only imagine what feelings Jace was getting off of him.” 

“You’re really given to hyperbole, aren’t you?”

Isabelle poked him. “Don’t be like your dad and cover up emotions with quips.”

“It’s our nature.”

Isabelle chuckled then took his hand in hers. “Things are fine. Trust me. Now c’mon, they’re waiting for us,” she said and tugged him along. When they got to the main room, everyone’s attention was on them once again.

“Did you find what it was?” Alec asked, once more ignoring the odd atmosphere surrounding them. 

Raphael smirked. “C’mon, Dad, have some faith in me.’


	3. A Night in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus and Raphael have a night in and talk. That's it basically.

Magnus was mixing up cocktails when Raphael got home. Raphael took one look at the strangely purple liquid with what looked like glitter swirling in it and opened his mouth to ask what it was before deciding against that. 

“Hello, my sweet boy,” Magnus greeted while pressing a glass into his hand. “Alexander called and said he had to stay late at the institute, so it will just be us for dinner tonight.”

“Is it anything serious?” Alec rarely stayed late at the institute any longer unless it was a dire situation. Raphael’s mind filled with possibilities from a new greater demon attacking to something as mundane as a fight between the couple. He was shocked by how much the latter possibility terrified him. 

“They have some visiting students from another institute, and apparently it’s expected that he be there to take charge of getting them settled in.” 

Raphael frowned. “And no one else could do it?” 

“You know how they are with their ceremonies, but tell me, how was your day?”

Raphael took a sip of the cocktail. It wasn’t bad for something that glittered and tasted strongly of at least five kinds of fruits. “It was fine. I went to the center. Simon came along too.”

“Did he now?” 

“I have never seen anyone be so bad at a game of luck before.”

Magnus chuckled. “I’m just happy to see you going out with friends more.”

“The people at the center are my friends.”

“You know what I mean. People your own-” Magnus frowned. “People who are a similar maturi-. …There is really no good way to phrase this.”

“Relax. I know what you mean.” He sank onto the sofa next to Magnus. “So what are we doing for dinner then?”

“We could go to Pandemonium. I could have food brought to us there.”

“We just went two nights ago. I have used up all my social energy.” He also didn’t feel like having to get dressed up for a night out right then. 

“Ah, a night in then. Good. It will give me a chance to touch up those nails.” 

Raphael glanced at his own hands. “None of them are chipped.” He would have noticed before.

“Yes, but that color needs to be switched out. We’re in a new season now.” 

Raphael rolled his eyes. “I remember you saying that to Ragnor once right before you painted cabbages on his nails. I am not falling for that. You are not painting cabbages or any other kind of vegetation on my nails.”

“I can’t believe I had almost forgotten that. When did I do that again?”

“Let’s see. I was around thirty-four then. It was when I had moved in with you for the second time.”

Raphael had briefly lived with his family again once he had settled into his vampire lifestyle. It had only been for about five years until most of his siblings had started growing up and moving out and Raphael had started feeling the urge to do the same. Then he had moved back in with Magnus, spending years with him on and off before officially moving into the Hotel as part of the clan. Those years living with Magnus had left him with plenty of strange memories though. 

“I think it took another two years before he would let me paint his nails again.”

Raphael laughed. “Can you blame him? And by the way, it will take even longer for me to give in if you do anything like that to my nails.”

“Fine. I will refrain from putting anything cute on your nails. We’ll stick to just the basics, even if they are horribly boring,” Magnus said then sighed dramatically. “Oh, how you make me suffer sometimes.”

“Oh please. As I recall, it was always you getting us into trouble, and Ragnor always scolding you about being a better role model for me.”

“He did always like to play the part of the serious one,” Magnus said wistfully. Both of them sat quietly for a moment as they remembered their old friend. After a moment, Magnus spoke up again. “You know, I was thinking about having a reunion soon.”

“A reunion?”

“A trip with me, you, Catarina, and Tessa, and Alexander should no one object to his joining us.”

“No one is going to object to Dad coming along, but do you think he could handle it?” Raphael was trying to picture Alec’s reaction to what normally happened during their trips, but he couldn’t quite wrap his mind around it. 

“He married me, didn’t he? He can handle anything we throw at him.”

That was the truth. “But where could we all go? You know some of us have bans. And by some of us, I mean mainly you.”

 

“We’ll figure it out,” Magnus assured. “So, what do you think?”

“A trip sounds nice.”

“Excellent. I will ask Alexander tomorrow and then call the ladies and get their opinions.”

Magnus’s stomach made a noise, and Raphael raised an eyebrow. “I believe that means you need something solid to go with your so far very liquid-based dinner.” 

“I’ll order something in for us., and I’ll even do it the way Alexander insists.”

“You mean with the actual paying for the food kind of ordering.”

“Yes, that way.”

“Then I’m going to go change.” 

They ended up having dinner on the floor in front of the coffee table. Raphael had changed out of his usual fitted blazer look and into a baggy t-shirt that definitely had not come from his own closet and pajama pants. He was dipping egg rolls into his blood, somehow managing to not drip the liquid anywhere even though his eyes were glued on the tv. Magnus couldn’t help but laugh at him over his own box of lo mein. 

“I can’t believe you still do that.” 

Raphael slowly drew his eyes away from the tv. “You started it.”

It was true. Magnus had been completely responsible for Raphael’s strange habit of dipping food into blood. To be fair, he had started it when Raphael was fifteen and first dealing with what it meant to be a vampire. He could still remember that time, and how painfully young Raphael had been when he had first moved in with Magnus. 

He had been devastated. After accidentally draining and killing his friends, he had refused to eat. Even after Magnus had saved him from a walk in the sun, he had only been a shadow of a person. He had tiptoed around Magnus’s apartment, refusing the blood offered to him and getting thinner and paler with every passing day until Magnus had taken things into his own hands. He had ordered in foods from the best places around the world, and then he had placed the blood on the side of things as if another dip or sauce. The blood had been mixed with almost everything. It had taken the place of strawberry sauce on desserts. It had been mixed with the tomato sauce on top of steak ranchero. Raphael had gone from picking at the food to actually enjoying eating again. Magnus knew that things had worked when he had come home to find Raphael cooking a bloodless meal while drinking his blood straight from a bag. Raphael had moved back in with his family shortly after that, and Magnus had only seen him drink blood since then. 

“I know I started it. I just didn’t think you still did it.” 

“I do. Just not that often.”

“Alone or with me then?”

Raphael shrugged. “Some people find it distasteful.”

Magnus could imagine. The other vampires didn’t tend to want human foods any longer while everyone else tended to steer clear of pouring straight blood on things. 

“You know you can eat whatever or however you want to here, right?”

Raphael picked up another egg roll and dunked it. “Is this when you tell me that Alec won’t mind seeing me dunk my food into blood?”

“Well, it’s true. You should see some of the things he’s eaten when Isabelle tries to cook. I don’t think anything could phase him at this point.”

“I’ve seen her cook,” Raphael said with a wince. Sweet girl, but how anyone could be that bad at cooking even with years of practice and an actual teacher in the room was beyond him. “I’ll consider it.”

“You could probably eat comfortably in front of Sherman too.”

“Simon.”

“Yes, in front of Stravinsky.”

“Oh, careful. That one could almost be a compliment.” 

Magnus chuckled. “Don’t deny me my fun. Anyway, he’d probably be grateful for the tips if he hasn’t figured it out for himself. You could even have him over. Have a cooking party and movie night or something like that.”

“You do remember that I’m an adult and don’t need you to set up play dates for me.”

“I’m just offering suggestions, darling. Now if you’re done eating,-”

“I am,” Raphael assured, and Magnus used a bit of magic to clear the dishes. 

“Well then, scoot over here and let me fix those nails of yours.” 

“Fine, but I don’t want anything bright this time. Just one color.”

“Designs?”

“No-well-maybe. What do you have in mind?”

Raphael pretended to be watching the movie they had put on while Magnus painted his nails but his attention kept wandering to his hands. Magnus’s hands easily covered his own. 

“Does Dad want children?” 

Magnus’s movements never even paused. 

“I believe you mean to say, ‘Does Dad want more children?’,” Magnus corrected.

“You’ve always wanted children, but does he?”

“What brought this on?”

“You both can call me son all you want and I can call you Papa and Dad, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s not the same. You didn’t know me until I was fifteen. By the time Alec met me, I was in my seventies. I was already an adult both times.”

Magnus scoffed. “Fifteen and adult do not go together. Those are very different things.”

“You know what I mean. Neither of you has had the chance of raising an actual child. Don’t you both want that?”

Magnus studied Raphael for a moment. “Do you think you’re not good enough for us?”

“I think I’m not what you intended.”

“And there is nothing wrong with that. Every day there are people in the world adopting children. Some adopt babies. Other adopt older.” 

Raphael sighed. “I know that.”

“And it is never a mistake. People find the ones who are meant to be their family, and just because you came to us later in life does not mean that you aren’t the one who was meant to be our son.”

Raphael bristled under the attention. He hadn’t actually meant to steer the conversation into such a serious path. 

“Look at me,” Magnus used a finger under the chin to direct Raphael’s gaze toward him. “This thing between the three of us is not some temporary phase. It’s not us playing house. Five hundred years from now, whether you’re still living with us or on another planet-

“Planet?”

“Space travel. They’re moving fast on that. Anyway, no matter where you are, we’re still going to be a family. Do you understand that?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” Magnus leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “Now, if for any reason we decide to add to our little family, it is in no way a commentary on your value.”

“Understood.”

“Wonderful. And there, your nails are finished.” And while Magnus might have painted by hand, he used magic to dry them. No one had the kind of patience that was required to sit around trying not to smudge their polish. Raphael was left with metallic nails with the smallest abstract design across them. 

“Looks good. Thank you.”

“Anytime. Now, I’m in the mood for another drink. What about you?” 

Raphael agreed, and Magnus made his way to the bar.

“You know, eternity’s a long time, and I guess it wouldn’t be the worst thing to be a big brother again,” Raphael said as he watched Magnus pour another strangely colored liquid into two glasses. 

Magnus’s lips twisted up slightly. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“But no rush or anything.”

“No, no rush. Like you said, eternity’s a long time.”


	4. Injured Magnus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a prompt from Sarah Lou " Magnus is badly hurt by a client at home and Raphael finds him and calls Alec panicking."
> 
> * Female hyena spirit borrowed from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

He knew something was wrong before he opened the door. The smell of blood was thick in the air, and Raphael knew whose it was. He shakily worked on unlatching the door while forcing out prayers to a deity he was only half certain listened to him any longer. Of all the times for Magnus to actually lock the place beyond the wards, but he had been meeting with a client and hadn’t wanted Alec or Raphael to forget and accidentally barge in during the middle of any spells. 

Finally, he burst into the apartment. Magnus was on the floor unconscious, blood pouring from his wounds. Above him, a hyena-were hovered: a female hyena-were which meant a leader of her pack and far more of a threat than any of the males would have been. She had half transformed. Her fangs and claws were out, and she was about to summon her pack. Raphael jumped into action. He took advantage of her having not noticed him to lunge at her from behind her and bash her hard enough in the head to knock her out. 

He was about to do more than that when a weak plea reached his ears. “Raphael, don’t,” Magnus whispered, shakily reaching up a bloody hand. “It’s not her fault.” 

“Papa,” Raphael gasped, relieved to hear his voice, but just as he was reaching for him, Magnus’s eyes rolled backward in his head and his body went limp. 

Raphael quickly tied up the hyena-were then scrambled over to Magnus again. “Papa, wake up. Papa!” Magnus was pale. His pulse was thready at best, and the blood was still slowly seeping from his wounds. Images of the hallucinations Asmodeus had tortured him with flooded his mind, and all he could see was Magnus’s still form dead with all his organs placed out next to him. “What do I do? Wake up! I don’t know what to do!” he shouted, knowing it wouldn’t work but too desperate to not try. There was so much blood. He couldn’t think straight from it all. 

His hands went to his pockets, searching for his phone while smearing blood across the fabric as he did. It took him three attempts to put the call through, and then he had nearly dropped the phone several times while waiting for an answer. 

“Hello?” 

“He’s bleeding, and he won’t wake up!” 

After a brief moment, Alec replied very calmly. “Who is bleeding?” 

“Papa,” Raphael replied. “I can’t fix it! I can’t do healing spells! I don’t even know any potions to use. He’s going to die! What do I do? Dad! Help me.”

There was a sharp intake of breath, just brief enough that Raphael caught it, but Alec was a soldier. He was trained to handle emergencies, and that was what he did. There was an order shouted for someone to call Catarina and tell her to portal over to the apartment to heal Magnus. It was quick and efficient, and then Alec was back on the line with him. 

“Raphael, help is coming,” he promised. 

“But what do I do?” 

“Are you in any danger? Is the threat still there?”

“I tied her up. She’s unconscious.”

“Good. Very good.” Raphael could hear Alec rushing through the institute as he spoke. “And what about you? Are you injured?”

“No, just Papa.”

“I understand. I’m on my way.”

“Hurry.”

“I am,” he promised. “I want you to stay on the phone with me.” Raphael didn’t respond, and when Alec next spoke, the soldier voice was gone. It was a new tone entirely. “Sweetheart, listen to me. He is going to be fine. Catarina is already on her way. She will heal him, and I will be there soon to take care of anything else.”

“I understand.”

“Now, I want you to tell me the moment Cat arrives. Okay?”

A swirling portal appeared in the room, and Catarina stepped forward. Her eyes were wide as she took in the scene, but much like Alec, she had been trained to handle emergencies, and she quickly dropped to the floor and began treating Magnus. 

“She’s here.”

“Good.”

“Should I hang up?”

“No, sweetheart, you just keep talking to me. I want you to focus on me.”

“I’m not injured though. I’m fine.”

“I know,” Alec assured. “It helps me not to worry.” 

“Oh, right.” Alec was worried too, and this way, he could be a part of things until he was actually there. That was how Raphael saw it anyway. Catarina kept shooting glances his way as she was healing Magnus, but didn’t say anything when she saw he was on the phone. Raphael watched as the blood seemed to return to Magnus’s body and as the cuts slowly stitched themselves back together. On the phone, Alec kept a tally of how much closer he was getting while Raphael answered the sometimes weird questions being sent his way. After a few minutes, Alec was running into the room.

“Cat?” he asked. 

“He will be fine,” she assured. “I need you to give me space though. For now, take care of that one,” she said with a nod in Raphael’s direction.

“I’m fine,” Raphael mumbled. Alec dropped to the floor in front of him. He slipped Raphael’s phone from his hand and placed it aside. 

“You’re fine,” Alec echoed his own words back to him. “But why don’t we get you cleaned up before Magnus wakes. You don’t want him to think you’re injured as soon as he’s conscious again, do you?” If Raphael would have been in a better state of mind, he would have realized why Alec was talking with a rather patronizing tone. As it was, he was content just go along with whatever he proposed. 

“Fix the tea in the blue canister for him after. Make sure it’s sweet. I’m going to move Magnus into your room to finish patching him up and to make sure he’s comfortable,” Cat said.

Alec’s gaze lingered on Magnus for a moment, but then his attention was right back on Raphael. “C’mon, Sweetheart,” He guided him to his feet, but Raphael’s legs didn’t seem to want to work right. So Alec went ahead and swept him up. Raphael didn’t protest. He wrapped his arms around Alec’s neck and let himself be taken care of. 

Alec quickly cleaned the blood from his face and hands and then changed him out of his bloodied outfit and into a pair of pajamas. The whole time Raphael wondered why his body didn’t want to cooperate. He was then taken to the kitchen, but Alec had once more carried him and had that time assured that Raphael’s gaze was distracted from seeing the blood on the living room floor. It was only when he was seated at the table drinking the sugary tea and picking at the cookies Alec had placed in front of him that he realized what had happened. 

“I was in shock,” he said.

“You were,” Alec confirmed. 

‘I’m a vampire. I can’t go into shock.”

“You’re a daylighter now. It’s changed more than your ability to go into the sunlight.” 

“Did you know that I could go into shock?”

“No, we don’t have a daylighter handbook or any good sources to know the exact details, so we’ve just decided to be prepared for anything.”

“Oh,” Raphael said numbly. 

“I’m going to fix you some blood to dunk the cookies in.” 

“You don’t have to-”

“You need to eat.”

They sat together eating cookies and trying to keep themselves distracted until finally, Catarina returned. “He’s healed, and he’s awake.”

Alec was on his feet immediately with Raphael following close behind him. When they got to the bedroom, Alec dropped to his knees beside the bed and took Magnus’s hand in his. “No more solo client meetings ever again,” he said.

Magnus smiled weakly. “I’m sorry I worried you.”

“I thought I had lost you,” and for the first time since hearing Magnus was in danger, Alec finally allowed himself to give in to the fear. “Please don’t do things like this again.”

“I will try my best,” Magnus assured.

“I love you. So much.”

“And I love you. “

Alec leaned up and kissed Magnus softly. Raphael remained standing to the side watching his dads until Magnus called for him. 

“Come here, my sweet boy.”

Raphael shuffled his way over. 

“I’m sorry I scared you.”

“Papa, you cannot keep taking such risks,” he took a seat on the other side of Magnus. 

“I will be more careful in the future,” he promised. “Now, I understand that Amalia is still outside.”

“She’s unconscious and tied up.”

“What happened there anyway?”

“She’s naturally a hyena-were, but then she got possessed by a roaming hyena spirit on top of that. I was supposed to be removing the possession one, but the spell made both spirits feel targeted. That was why there was such a violent reaction. Thank you for not killing her. It could not be helped.”

Raphael didn’t respond, so Alec jumped in. “We mean it when we say no more risks like this. It was only luck that prevented her from being killed, and you know if it comes down to saving a stranger or saving you, we’re both going to always pick to save you.”

“I understand.” 

Catarina appeared at the bedroom door. “Your guest is waking up. I suggest we complete the ritual before her spirits are angered further.”

“Papa can’t-”

“You two can play bodyguards, and I will complete the ritual with Magnus’s guidance.” 

Together the four of them helped the client, and she left happy and oblivious to the attack. Her obliviousness was at Magnus’s insistence. Catarina excused herself next wanting to get back to Madzie quickly, and the three of them settled in for an evening of recovery on the couch.

Magnus sat in the center so that both Alec and Raphael could be on either side of him. Neither was willing to be away from him for long right then. Raphael was curled into Magnus’s side, letting Magnus fuss over him. Magnus had spotted the tea, cookies, and pajamas after the ritual and had added everything up, and Raphael had decided that he would let him fuss because it meant Magnus would let him keep him in his sight until he was sure his papa was better. Meanwhile, Alec had an arm stretched over the back of the couch wrapped around Magnus and brushing against Raphael’s shoulder. He had thrown a blanket over the three of them and had commanded that the other two stay sitting while he got up to fetch whatever they might need which so far he had decided meant tons of sweets. 

The third time Alec got up to get them more hot chocolate, Raphael spoke up. “You scared him today. I mean, he acted calm and in control, and he took care of you and then he looked after me, but he was terrified.”

“I know. I know what he does.”

“Please, you really can’t do that again. I don’t know how he and I would survive without you.”

Magnus used what little-recovered energy he had to lift Raphael up and onto his lap, carefully rearranging the blanket around them. 

“I’m too old for his,” Raphael muttered.

“Never,” Magnus replied. “Now don’t worry, my darling boy. I promise I’ll be more careful from now on.”

“You better.”


	5. Adventures with Uncle Jace pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raphael and Jace hang out.

Alec’s day had gone from boring to frustrating ever since he had had to kiss his husband goodbye and actually go to work. There had been no activity lately that needed following up on. Everything had been remarkably peaceful in their area thanks to Alec’s working with the different heads of factions around town. The downside was that that meant Alec actually had time to do all the paperwork that found its way onto his desk. Most of which seemed to have arrived from Idris itself. He had been staring at the same paragraph in utter disbelief for nearly half an hour. The demands were so unreasonable that the only reply he could think of was to rip the entire thing up and send the shreds straight back. Unfortunately, that was not an acceptable way to act, so he went back to staring. He was actually relieved when the bang of a door followed by shouting occurred not too far from his office. 

“You can’t just barge in there! You don’t have an appointment!” That was definitely Melody’s voice, one of the newer Shadowhunters who was “on loan” from Idris. The New York Institute had been getting a lot of those lately. She was young, fresh from the institute, and eager to please the higher-ups. Strangely enough, she was also one of the few Shadowhunters who preferred paperwork to fighting, and she had been acting as an administrative assistant of sorts though Alec had few doubts that her true purpose in the institute was to spy and report back on his every move. Apparently, word had spread that he was immortal, and some people were worried that that new development had somehow disturbed his loyalties. 

His hopes increased as the footsteps drew closer to his office. Then the doors were thrown open causing a gust to send the papers straight from the desk and into the roaring fire in the fireplace, well, the gust and Alec’s very careful aim.

“Can I help you?” He asked looking up at the furious face of his son and wondering just who had been capable of upsetting the normally unshakable man.

“You!” Raphael growled. “You must get your people under control!” Melody stood behind the raging daylighter looking like she was just itching to drag him away. He managed to push aside most of his overprotective instincts to instead have a bit of fun with her. 

“Come in, Raphael. Take a seat,” he offered calmly enjoying the way that it noticeably made Raphael hesitate for just the briefest moment before he smirked back, obviously pleased to have his demands met so quickly. 

“Sir, you have appointments,” Melody protested. “You don’t have time for a random downworlder to be barging into-”

“Melody, let me introduce you,” Alec interrupted before she could say something unforgivable. “This is Raphael, former head of the Brooklyn clan and member of the council. Currently, he’s on pay as one of our consultants.” 

“Still, this is no way for an employee to behave. We have protocols and-,”

“More importantly he’s my son, so he always has an open invitation to the institute.”

“Son?” The word fell out of her mouth as her jaw dropped open. As a typical shadowhunter, she quickly pulled herself together, but her shock had been evident to the two others in the room.

Meanwhile, Raphael’s temper had cooled enough for Alec to no longer be too concerned with the matter, and after an initial flush of embarrassment, the daylighter instead put on his usual smug demeanor and dropped into a nearby chair.

“Surely you’ve heard the rumors. I can’t imagine many shadowhunters can claim to have both a spouse and child who are downworlders, especially not downworlders as famous as Magnus and I,” he practically purred.

Melody’s face was a brilliant shade of red as she tried to get her thoughts together. “Well, yes, I-everyone’s heard- but I thought-.”

“What did you think?” Raphael asked curiously.

“I thought you would look younger actually, more cute child and less grumpy teenager.”

Alec let out a highly amused snort while Raphael glared at both of them. 

“You thought the former head of the local clan would be an actual child?” he asked incredulously.

Melody shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the strangest thing I have encountered.”

Alec was still snickering. His day was suddenly going so well. Raphael heaved a forced sigh. “Are you quite finished?”

Alec breathed in slowly and tried to think of anything serious, but it was impossible. “I’m sorry. I can’t help it. You should see your face.” 

“I actually think he looks rather terrifying right now, so I’m just going to leave,” Melody said and darted out of the room allowing Raphael to focus his glare entirely on his dad.

“You just look so cute.”

“Dios mio, you are as bad as Papa,” Raphael replied and dropped his head back on the chair. 

Alec managed to get his emotions under control after a few moments. “So tell me what inspired such a visit,” he said once he could speak without laughing. “You said you were giving up the dramatic entrances after all.”

He expected Raphael to protest, but instead, he sighed, looking stressed at something. “Some of your shadowhunters have been provoking the newer vampires. They’re going into the clubs with fresh cuts, tempting them to break the accords by waving around treats right in front of their faces.”

Okay, that was an actual problem then. “Why didn’t Lily come to me about this?”

“She didn’t think it was something you could involve yourself in without suffering too much resentment from the other shadowhunters. We all know that they are not technically breaking any of the accords.”

“No, they’re just getting as close as they can in order to make everyone else break them.” Alec sighed. “So she thinks it would look too much like favoritism,” he sighed. “What do you think?”

“I think that she’s right to be concerned about the backlash of your getting involved in this.”

“So what would you like me to do about it?”

“I don’t know. You’re the dad. You fix it,” Raphael practically whined, and no matter how much time they spent together, Alec was always amazed by how different the real Raphael was to the one he had first met. 

“If you want me to get involved then-”

“No, no, I just-it’s frustrating. If you were just a random head of the institute, I would be in here demanding more. Since you’re my dad though, it’ll just look like favoritism, and people will get annoyed.”

Alec tapped a pen against his desk while he thought. “What if there was a way to handle it without making it official business?”

“What way would that be?”

“Jace has been looking bored lately. Why don’t you go see what he’s up to?” he suggested, knowing he was more than likely going to regret his idea in some way. Raphael looked intrigued.

“And where would he be?”

“He was complaining about not having a good opponent earlier today, so he’s probably given up on training for now and is in the music room.” 

Raphael nodded and started to go that way, but before he could get out the door, Alec was calling after him.

“And, Raphael, call us if you’ll be out later than two.”

Raphael rolled his eyes. “Yes, Dad.”

“And if another shadowhunter tries to arrest you for anything make sure that you make it very clear who you are. I don’t want there to be any chance of you ending up in a holding cell.”

“Right.”

“And call me if you get into any trouble.”

“I’ve got it.”

“And veto any idea Jace has that involves motorcycles.”

“Dad, please!”

Alec chuckled. “Okay, okay have fun. I’ll see you tonight.”

Raphael escaped the office and headed for the music room. He had gotten very familiar with the institute, and most of the local shadowhunters recognized him and let him pass without comment. Disturbingly a few even greeted him happily when they saw him. That was taking some adjustment. The only problems he had was when Idris sent over new people which had been happening often lately. 

He managed to avoid any kind of confrontations though and found Jace in the music room where Alec had thought he would be. The blond was playing the piano. His fingers flying over the keys as he played something entirely original. Jace’s musical ability was one of the things Raphael appreciated about him most. Though just as with Simon, he didn’t exactly go around saying such things to them. Both men would gloat over it for days if he did, and he didn’t have time for such nonsense.

He waited until Jace finished the piece then applauded. Jace smiled at him over the piano. “If it isn’t my favorite nephew. I didn’t know you were dropping by today.”

Raphael rolled his eyes. “Hello, Jace.”

Jace wrinkled his nose. “Try again.”

“Uncle Jace,” Raphael ground out, though he couldn’t quite mask his amusement at it all. 

Jace grinned widely. “I do love the sound of that. I take it this isn’t quite a personal call though.”

“There’s been a situation, and Dad said you were bored lately.”

“Ah, it’s one of those unofficial situations then. Those are my favorite,” he jumped up. “Who are we fighting tonight? Never mind. Doesn’t matter. Just point me at them.”

Raphael chuckled. “It’s might take a bit more finesse than that.”

Jace groaned. “Let me guess, it’s going to take more waiting too?”

“Only until the clubs open.”

Jace grinned at that. “What kind of clubs are we talking about?”

They steered far from Pandemonium, not wanting to implicate Magnus in anything and instead went to Maia’s club, who had been more than happy to prepare for a shadowhunter brawl. 

“I’ll move the breakables and let the pack know to just stand aside and cheer,” she had said when Jace called ahead to clear things with her after Raphael finally pitched the idea. “You’re sure you don’t need any extra hands?”

“Letting us possibly trash your club is enough. There’s need to risk getting your pack in any trouble with the Clave if this doesn’t go right. Thanks for the offer though.”

Despite Jace’s assurances, Maia was still there when they arrived. Though she was tucked away in a VIP section doing an assignment for one of her MBA classes. She stuck her head out of the room long enough to greet them and to tell the bartender to give them whatever they wanted on the house as payment. “Think of it as payment for getting the trash to stop visiting my club.”

Jace and Raphael decided to go along with it if only because it meant more drink. That was how they found themselves still waiting an hour later. Both tipsy and ready for a fight. Raphael was subtly watching the room while Jace got a new round of drinks and some information from anyone new at the bar.

“You were gone for awhile,” Raphael said when Jace returned and placed a bourbon in front of him. 

“I got descriptions of which ones have been causing all the trouble, and I got experimental shots. Lucy, the bartender wants some feedback on them.”

“Did the descriptions help?”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure I know exactly who has been causing all the trouble. It’s some of the new ones. It shouldn’t take much to get them under control,” Jace replied and downed one of the shots he had gotten. He winced at the taste. “Maybe not that one.”

“Are you planning to get drunk before they arrive?”

“Some of these are for you.”

“What’s in them?” He eyed the frankly disgusting looking shots. He had thought Brain Hemorrhage shots looked disgusting when they had first been invented, but some of the ones Lucy had invented managed to look worst.

“No idea. Does it matter?”

“You have a point.”

Eventually, after more rounds of experimental shots from Lucy, the shadowhunters they were waiting for strolled into the club. All of them had some form of small cuts on them from battle, and all of them wandered over to where the vampires in the club were hanging out. 

Jace, who had clearly passed the point of tipsy to nearly drunk, nearly popped up from his seat, but Raphael managed to keep him down with a hand on the shoulder. “Not yet. It has to be obvious that they are trying to start things,” he reminded him.

“Right, just have to wait,” he sighed. 

So they waited while trying more of the shots. Even Raphael had to admit to being closer to drunk than tipsy at that point. Thankfully, the shadowhunters finally did their thing. They started really pushing and tempting the vampires. They blocked the paths of those who tried to leave. Raphael and Jace shared a look. 

“Time to play.”

They jumped up and made their way over. The key to settling things without technically breaking rules was getting the other part to punch first, and if any two people in the world had the ability to rile up others with a few well place comments, it was Jace and Raphael.

They did their best to out taunt each other. There was a bet on who could get punched first. Jace won, but Raphael was glad not to be the one with the bloody nose. Then all hell broke loose. Punching, kicking, throwing things. No weapons came out. They seemed to have that much sense at least. Jace and Raphael emerged victoriously, and the other shadowhunters stumbled back to the institute with several new lessons learned. Overall, it took a total of about three minutes.

“That was…”

“Disappointing.”

“Victory shots?” Jace tried.

Raphael shrugged. “Let’s see what Lucy has for us.” 

They left the bar after many more rounds and stumbled their way out onto the streets. “We should go-somewhere fun,” Jace said looking around as if that place would jump out at them.

“We just left somewhere fun.” 

“Another kind of fun.” 

“What do you do for fun?”

“Fight things. Music. Oh! Motorcycles. Let’s race motorcycles!”

“I remember something about motorcycles. What was it?” Raphael searched his brain, but it was all a foggy haze. “Oh, we can’t. Drinking and driving. That’s bad.”

“Doesn’t count with flying motorcycles and in the middle of nowhere. We can’t hurt people, and if we fall off, we just land on grass, so we’re covered.”

“Logical.”

That was how the two of them ended up borrowing some bikes from Raphael’s old clan and having them delivered out to the old abandoned school grounds outside the city. There was a track there that was perfect for racing. 

“Is ten laps sufficient?” 

“Yes. Is flight allowed?”

“For the first round.”

The flight round led to a blindfold round which led to a standing on the bike round which was when Raphael began to suspect he had somehow made a poor decision at some time that night. He became certain of it when a portal opened and two people stepped out of it. 

Magnus, looking horribly displeased, looked over the two of them. “Raphael Santiago Lightwood-Bane! Jace-what’s his last name again?”

“Just go with Lightwood,” Alec offered.

“Right! Jace Lightwood! What do you two think you are doing?”

Raphael glanced from Magnus to Alec and took several steps away from the motorcycle. “Right. That was what it was about the motorcycles.”

Alec had already grabbed Jace by the arm and was escorting him back to the portal. “You are going to be doing paperwork for the next week for this.”

“Seriously?”

“Trust me. It’s better than what Magnus had planned for you.”

Magnus was busy right then marching over to Raphael. “You and I are going to have a long long talk when we get home.”

“I’d rather do the paperwork.”

“Oh don’t worry. You’re going to get to help me with some clients instead. I can’t imagine anyone better to greet them all than you.”

Raphael cast a pleading look in Alec’s direction as they went through the portal, and when Alec sighed, Raphael knew he had caved.

“You two sit on the couch and don’t move,” Alec ordered. “Magnus, could I talk to you for a moment?”

Raphael and Jace were both sobering quickly enough to be concerned with their fates. “How much trouble do you think we’re going to be in?”

“Depends on if Dad’s feeling generous because it looks like Papa is not.”

“I would totally do it again.”

Raphael snorted. “I am aware of that.”

“Like you wouldn’t?”

Magnus and Alec reappeared then. Magnus looked much calmer than before. He breathed in deeply and looked over the two of them. “Alexander has reminded me that you are both adults, difficult as it is to believe. Given that you two did not actually cause any harm and just acted stupidly, I think that perhaps a warning will suffice. However, I will provide neither of you with hangover cures in the morning, nor will you, Jace, be allowed to use any runes to make things better for yourself. Now, I think it’s time for all of us to go to bed. We can continue this conversation in the morning.”

“Thank you,” Raphael mouthed to Alec as soon as Magnus was heading to his room. Alec rolled his eyes. 

“Next time you two do anything like this, I’ll not only stand aside and watch Magnus distribute out punishments, I’ll jump in and offer him some ideas of ways to punish you even more effectively,” he warned. “Now, good night.”

“Good night,” Both echoed after him. Once both Magnus and Alec had gone to bed, Jace glanced over at Raphael. 

“You know we can’t get hangovers if we’re still drunk when we wake up.”

“I’ll get the scotch.”


	6. Grandmother visits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maryse pays an unexpected visit.

A knock sounded on the apartment door, and Raphael muttered complaints under his breath as he went to answer it. They had had what felt like nonstop visitors for the past week. The holidays were always the time for people to need some kind of spells or charms. Preparing for yet another one of Magnus’s clients, Raphael opened the door and leaned out. 

“High Warlock Magnus Bane is currently unavailable at the mo-Oh-Maryse,” Raphael said, stopping in the middle of the line he had already had to give five times that morning. He stepped back and opened the door a bit wider. “What’s happened? Is everyone alright?” he asked while stepping aside to let her into the apartment. He mentally ran through the list of how many people would have to be dead, missing, or unconscious for her to be chosen as the one to deliver the bad news to him, and he prayed that he hadn’t somehow managed to lose all his family and friends in one day. Thankfully, before he could work himself into a state, she spoke up.

“How sad it is that you assume only an emergency would inspire me to visit,” she said while stepping into the apartment. 

“My apologies. It’s been that kind of season,” he tried to excuse. 

“I understand. I can be paranoid myself.” 

“Papa and Dad are out right now, but you can wait here for them here,” he offered. “Dad should be home soon actually, but would you like a drink in the meantime? We have almost everything. Tea, coffee, cocktail, -”

“Tea would be lovely. Thank you.” 

“Of course, please take a seat. I’ll just go fix the tea and then be right back.” He dashed into the kitchen and put the kettle on while pulling out his phone. 

_Your mother is here. He texted quickly._

__

__

_Emergency?_

__

__

_She says visit._

__

__

_Then visit with her. I’ll be home soon._

____

____

Well, Dad was unsympathetic. Time to try Papa, who could at least empathize with him.

_Maryse Lightwood is in our apartment._

__

__

I _s anyone injured? Dead? Is she trying to kill you?_

__

__

_No. No. Not yet. She claims she came for a visit._

__

__

_What did Alexander say?_

__

__

_To visit with her until he gets here._

__

__

_Better you than me._

__

__

_PAPA!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

__

__

_Be home later! LOVE YOU! <3_

Raphael tossed aside his phone in resignation. Fantastic. He willed the time to pass faster and the kettle to take longer, hoping Alec would be home before he even had to return with the tea, but luck was not on his side. The kettle sounded, and he reluctantly gathered everything else he needed trying not to prolong further. He hadn’t been raised to be rude after all.

When he returned to the living room with the tea, Maryse was browsing the shelves, looking over the new pictures they had added. Magnus had insisted, and there were pictures of the three of them as well as their friends and family covering the living room. There were pictures of them at coffee shops during Simon’s gigs, pictures they had taken at the dinner parties they had held, and pictures of them at birthday celebrations. Everyone was accounted for. Well, almost everyone anyway. 

Maryse didn’t turn around when he entered the room. Instead she kept her eyes glued on the picture that had been taken a few days earlier at Alec’s birthday party. Surprisingly, Alec had agreed to a large party for all their friends to join them at, which he had let Magnus go all out on. In return, they had stayed in for quiet evenings for the rest of his birthday week and only invited over their closest friends. The picture though had been taken at the actual party. Alec’s face was flushed from both drinks and a comment Magnus had just whispered in his ear moments earlier while Magnus was staring at Alec with those adoring eyes of his and a smirk on his face. In the background, Raphael, who had definitely heard the comment, was making an expression that could only be described as long-suffering while Clary, who had been standing next to him, was laughing delightedly at how cute the couple was being. Even further in the background it was possible to see Jace, Simon, Isabelle, and Maia arguing over a game of darts. It had been normal for all of them, but he could understand why it had caught Maryse’s attention. “Do you always call my son “Dad” now?” Maryse asked. 

Raphael kept his attention on the tea he was pouring. “I call him that around our family.”

“It sounded like it was something you called him when talking to anyone, especially with the rumors I have been hearing.”

“I’m sorry if that bothers you,” he said out of sheer politeness. 

“Don’t be silly. It doesn’t bother me in the least,” she replied and to his surprise took the seat next to him on the couch. She took her mug into her hands and stared down into the tea for a second. “I knew how Alec felt about you the day we retrieved you from hell. I just did not realize his sentiments were returned in the same capacity.”

“They are,” Raphael assured. “And thank you by the way. I never had the chance to properly express my gratitude to you for being part of the rescue that day.” 

“You were injured, and then I was unable to attend the victory party. There’s always some kind of business in Idris. There was hardly any time to be polite about it. Besides, there is never a need to thank family.”

Raphael wasn’t sure how to respond. 

“You’re my first grandchild, you know,” she said casually, and Raphael nearly cracked the mug he was holding.

“You don’t have to consider me-I’m older than you.” He knew how people could be. The expectations that people could hold for their grandchildren, and the utter disappointment they could feel if those expectations weren’t met. He didn’t want to be the cause of that.

“So is Magnus, and he’s my son-in-law. It doesn’t change things. Our world was meant to be unconventional, and you are now my grandson. That is, if you’re okay with that.” 

“As long as you are.”

Maryse nodded approvingly. “Did Magnus ever tell you that he knew me when I was in my twenties or that Alec was very nearly the death of him before he was even ten?” 

“No, he didn’t.” 

Maryse chuckled. “It’s quite the story.”

Raphael bet it was. “Tell it. Please,” he said eagerly.

As Maryse recounted one of her first encounters with Magnus (while apologizing for her past views as she did), Raphael found himself relaxing in her presence. Soon they were both laughing and chatting comfortably like old friends. 

“You know, Max is seventeen now,” she said with a sudden veer in conversation.

“Oh yes, I saw him at the party.” Max and Alec were still close, but Max had found that he liked the Mumbai institute more as a teenager than he had as a child, mainly because he was a teenager and living in Mumbai away from his siblings allowed him more freedom. That also meant he rarely dropped in on them. 

“My youngest child is about to become an adult.”

“You and I both know that eighteen is an adult in name only.”

“Still, it makes me think that I am losing them soon. They are all growing up and going off on their own paths. I am worried that I might not be a part of those paths.”

“Is that why you’re here today?”

“I know I have not always been the most ideal mother, but it is my intention to make up for that. I plan to go to each of my children and make attempts at becoming closer. I want to be a part of their lives,” she looked at Raphael. “A part of their families’ lives.”

“Family is important,” he said. He knew that she and Alec had made up before he had ever gotten captured, but it seemed that they had never gotten very close after. 

“I’m glad we’re in agreement on that matter. Does that mean that you might allow me to consider you my family?”

“Of course,” he replied, surprised to find himself agreeing so quickly.

“Thank you. It would please me greatly to get to know you better seeing as you’re such an important part of my son’s life. In fact, I’m going to be in New York for the next two weeks. Perhaps you and I could go for coffee sometime this week. We could talk for as long as we wanted and not just as a way to fill time while we wait for my son to arrive.”

“I’m sure we can arrange something. As long as you promise to tell me many more stories about my dads when they were younger.”

“I can definitely do that. Are you looking for blackmail material on them?”

“No, I would not call it blackmail, just a little insurance that when they start telling embarrassing stories about me that I can return the favor.”

Maryse chuckled. “I have numerous stories that would work for that.”

“I’ll make sure to call you to set something up.”

Maryse leaned forward. “At least you look young enough to pass for my grandson, as much as that pains me to say.”

Ah. Raphael knew the answer to that. Before Rosa had grown old enough to forget him, she had made similar statements. “No one is going to believe I’m your grandson for a moment. Maybe your son, but that’s it.”

“So far you’re cementing your place as my favorite grandchild, but we both know the truth. I am aging, and I’m starting to look the part.”

“Well, consider this, I get to play Peter Pan for all eternity.”

“Oh but, my darling, you make a charming Peter Pan. You know what everyone says about you, don’t you?”

He had no idea actually. “What do they say?”

“They say you have the face of an angel, and a few people have spread rumors that when you don’t gel your hair it’s actually quite curly. You’ll be spoiled for all eternity because of it.” 

Raphael could narrow down the people that knew the secret of his curly hair to only a handful, so that would at least help with the interrogations later.

“Now, now that we’ve decided that I’m to be your grandmother we should decide what you should call me.”

“Maryse?”

Maryse waved her hand dismissively. “That won’t work around mundanes. I was thinking Nana maybe. Grandma just sounds so old, doesn’t it? Grandmother’s too formal.” 

Raphael nodded blankly while she rambled on about the possibilities. 

“You know I have one friend that her grandchildren call her ‘Gigi’, but that was because they couldn’t pronounce Grandma when they were little. I most certainly refuse to be called ‘Granny’. How horrifying that one is.”

“Gigi sounds fine,” Raphael offered. It was the closest to an actual name, and he could maybe pass it off as such if just the two of them were in public together. 

Maryse smiled brightly. “Gigi it is! Wonderful.” 

The door knob clicked, and both of them looked towards the door as Alec stepped inside. “Oh hi, Mom, I didn’t know you were visiting today.”

“Oh please. Don’t try to act surprised. I know Raphael texted you as soon as I got here.”

“I was just letting him know, so you wouldn’t have to wait long,” Raphael tried to excuse. 

“Of course, that was what it was and not that you were terrified at the thought of being left alone with me,” Maryse said. 

“You two seem comfortable with each other now.” 

“We had a chance to talk. In fact, Raphael is going with me for coffee later this week.”

“Isn’t that nice,” Alec remarked, looking to Raphael as if to check that it wasn’t some kind of hostage situation happening. 

“I was hoping that you and I might have a chance to talk as well,” Maryse added. “That’s if you want to.”

“Of course.” 

“I’ll leave you two alone to catch up,” Raphael offered. “I promised Simon that I would help set up with for his gig tonight, and I should get ready for that.” It was a total lie, but thankfully Alec didn’t call him on it. 

“It was good to talk with you, Raphael.”

“You too,” Raphael echoed. Maryse looked expectedly at him, and Raphael discovered where Jace had gotten his strange habit from. “Goodbye, Gigi.” 

Alec raised an eyebrow. 

“Ask her if you want to know, but your whole family is insane,” Raphael whispered as he brushed by him and out the apartment door.

“Call if you’re going to be later than two,” Alec called after him.

“I will.”

“And don’t forget this time.”

“I won’t.” 

Once he was outside, he looked around for someplace to go until Maryse might leave. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate his new family. It was just that they were all a little intense was the thing. Luckily, he had all the time in the world to find a way to handle the Lightwood insanity. He just hoped that the next few generations were a little less energetic.


	7. Adventures with Uncle Jace pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jace, Raphael, and ducks

Despite their better judgment, Magnus and Alec had reluctantly agreed to let Raphael and Jace go out together again without any supervision. It was a Saturday morning because apparently there were fewer dangers in the morning, and while Raphael was enjoying the sunlight, it was way too early for him to be awake yet. It seemed the same was true for Jace. Both men stood in the middle of the park, blinking tiredly and staring around at the few early morning joggers. 

“Can we just hunt this thing and go back to sleep?” Jace moaned.

“We’re not hunting. We are helping to locate and escort to safety a lost werewolf child,” Raphael replied, adjusting the sunglasses he had borrowed from Magnus. He had been out in the sun more often but his eyes still hadn’t adjusted to the bright morning sun reflecting off the statues in the park.

Jace heaved another sigh. “I’m going to get coffee then.”

Raphael shrugged and took a sip from his travel mug. “Feel free to go stand in the line at that cart for two hours. Maybe the child is also a caffeine addict, and you’ll find him there.”

Jace mumbled under his breath about spoiled nephews and their overindulgent papas as he dragged himself over the respectably long coffee line. As if it were Raphael’s fault that Magnus had sent him out the door with a mug of coffee which may have been on the list of top ten most expensive coffees in the world and which had been brewed by a barista that held the title of World Champion. Oh, and he had had the barista add just enough blood to the coffee to not affect the taste but to still enough to deter Jace from sampling any. Though when Raphael had courteously offered him some, it had taken several minutes of Jace staring at it longingly before finally passing on the offer. Raphael was entirely certain that if he had been sent out with Clary she wouldn’t have hesitated to try some. That girl had become the definition of coffee addict over the years and a few drops of blood wouldn’t have deterred her in the slightest. Raphael and Simon had both found that out the hard way, and for a few weeks, there had been a constant watch over Clary to make sure she wasn’t becoming some new form of undead. Luckily, that day she and Isabelle were on the other side of the park. Since they were newly parabatai, they were trying out things on some easier missions. 

Raphael glanced at the children currently in the park. None of the fit the description of the missing child they were searching for, but by the time Jace finally made his way back over with a perfectly decent cup of coffee with too long of a wait time for it, the park was starting to fill with children and their parents. 

It was a difficult task to search for the child in a crowd without looking like a creeper, so eventually, they decided to just be up front. Both armed with a picture of the child, they went around asking the parents in the park if they had seen him, explaining he was the child of their friend and he had disappeared a few days earlier. It was close enough to the truth, and sometimes being open with the mundanes worked better than hiding everything from them. They did leave out the fact that the child could transform into a wolf. That seemed a bit much for them to handle.

Raphael was getting lectured by a woman who looked like she had been born the same year as him about how dangerous the city was and how even someone his age shouldn’t be out alone (if only she knew), when Jace shouted for him.

“Over here!”

Jace was running through the crowd, chasing after a blur of red curls. “Mikey!” 

Raphael took off after him. The parents had warned that the child often liked to play games like hide and seek or tag. It seemed he would be no different with the people searching for him. “Mikey!” 

Jace had put on an stealth rune and was running full speed after the child while Raphael was fighting to remember just how fast was it for mundanes to run. He darted over to a more abandoned area of the park and decided to find a way to go around and block off Mikey’s route.

Everything was going fine until Mikey headed toward a lake. Mikey raced straight towards the water, Jace was fast on his heels. At the last second, Mikey turned, but Jace, who had been going faster plunged headfirst into the lake. 

After only a second, Jace popped up out of the water and climbed out onto the grass, soaked but not harmed. Raphael continued to track the child but lost sight of Mikey when he heard Jace let out a terrified shout. “By the angel!” 

Raphael veered back around only to find Jace standing two feet away from a duck with two more coming up on his other side. 

“Dios,” Raphael muttered remembering the story Alec had told him. “Seriously?” Feeling slightly bad for Jace, who did look truly terrified by the birds, Raphael made his way over. 

“Shoo,” he told the birds, waving them away as he took a spot next to his uncle. Hopefully, they could get this taken care of and get back to finding the child before they lost his trail entirely. Rather than backing off when he shooed them, the ducks stepped closer. They were definitely too accustomed to tourists. Raphael tried again. “Shoo!” he said a little more forcefully.

“Careful, you’re angering them!” Jace hissed a warning as he moved to stand slightly behind Raphael. 

“That’s just your paranoia,” Raphael said. He did notice that there were an awful lot of the ducks surrounding them suddenly and that they were all kind of moving in on them with what did not seem like a very friendly look on their faces.

“Shoo?” Raphael tried again, and that was when things went out of control. A dozen ducks were flying at them. Raphael got slapped by a wing to the face, and Jace got beaked under his eye. Both of them swatted at the birds, for what little good that did, and then both men were tripping over each other. Raphael realized what was happening a moment to late and swore as they both plunged into the lake water. 

They both came up spluttering. Jace for air and Raphael to get the taste of lake water out of his mouth.

“Need some help, boys?” Clary’s voice was filled with laughter while meanwhile Isabelle had barely waved at the ducks and had caused them to all fly over to the other side of the lake.

“They tried to kill us!” Jace exclaimed. 

Between the two women, Mikey stood laughing at Jace and Raphael. “You two are funny!”

“Thanks. We try,” Raphael replied dryly. His tone was the only thing dry about him though. He could already feel his hair escaping from its carefully styled state. Damn ducks.

Isabelle reached a hand down to pull him up while Clary did the same with Jace. 

“Why don’t we take Mikey home? You two can go report to Alec and change into some less smelly clothes,” Isabelle offered. 

“Do you not like the fresh scent of lake water?” Raphael asked already moving toward her with an arm lifted to wrap around her shoulders. 

“Yeah, you wouldn’t kiss me like this?” Jaace asked puckering up for Clary. Both women jumped back quickly. 

“We’re good,” Clary assured. “We’ll see you at the institute.”

Then they were off, taking Mikey with them. 

“Deactivate your rune,” Raphael ordered when it was just the two of them.

“Why?”

“If you thought I was going to be the only one seen walking back to the institute looking like this, then you thought wrong.”

“Fine.”

The walk back to the institute was long and squishy, and when they arrived Alec just stared at both of them for a long moment. 

“Do I want to know?”

Both of them sighed and looked up at him, “Never trust a duck.”


	8. Promptfic: Overprotective Dads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dessiel prompt: maybe you can write something like a shadowhunter hurting raphael and malec reacting over that??
> 
> I got a little carried away with this one, so apologies if it's not exactly what you wanted.

The punch had him swallowing his own blood, his lip was sliced open by his fang during the impact. He swore and scrubbed at the rest of the blood dripping down his chin. He didn’t want to look like some fledging who spilled more blood than they ate. “I’m not going to fight you,” he growled and turned to leave. A hand on his elbow had him spinning around and coming face to face with Aldertree once more. 

“I wasn’t finished.”

“I was, so release me now.”

“I let you live the last time. I don’t think I’ll make that mistake again.”

Raphael jerked out of his hold and took a step back. “You can’t kill me. You’re not that strong, and this time you don’t have your little torture chair on you.” No need to point out that the sunlight would no longer work on him. The less Aldertree knew, the better. 

“You’re right. I might not have the chair with me, but I did bring along some good friends of mine.”

Raphael found himself face to face with a dozen more shadowhunters, who seemed to appear from every direction. Stealth runes then. 

He slipped a hand into his pocket and grabbed his phone. Back in the days of phones with actual buttons, he could have managed to dial in his pocket. Touch screens required actually seeing the screen. He dashed backward while trying to call Magnus, but a flying blade had the phone soaring from his hand and crashing to the ground. One glance at it made it clear that it would not be making any more calls in the future.

“You better hope all my contacts were saved under my account and not to the phone,” he growled. 

The shadowhunters didn’t seem to care. One was already running towards him. He would just have to fight then. He flipped the first attacker into the brick wall and hoped the impact would do enough damage to keep her down. He sent the next one flying into a dumpster which was too generous in his opinion. For every one he managed to toss to the side, he received a blow of his own. The match was surprisingly even. Then a particularly sharp blade pierced straight through his stomach slowing him down long enough for another person to land a punch to his head that had his ears ringing. He needed to escape. Really hating what he was about to do he leaned forward on the blade, shocking the shadowhunter holding the hilt just enough for him to release it. Then Raphael was jumping straight up, tugging the blade from his stomach as if it wasn’t cutting through all kinds of body parts in the process, and then he was transforming. His bones shattered as they shrunk and morphed into a bat skeleton. There was a price to pay for transformation, and the price was that it was painful and exhausting. He flew as far from the shadowhunters as he could manage, knowing that he had left enough injured that the rest would not be willing or able to follow him.

He was still blocks from the apartment when he started struggling to keep himself in flight. He carefully lowered himself into an alley and shifted back to his normal state, biting back a scream as his bones molded back into their normal shape. His energy was gone. All he wanted to do was sleep off the injuries before he plotted some ways to get revenge.

For the briefest moment, he thought he might be able to sneak into the apartment and spend the next day recovering in his room without anyone noticing. However, he was already running later than he had said he would be, and he had little doubt that if his phone had still been working, it would have been filled with missed calls and texts. 

He sagged against the closest wall, trying not to imagine what substances might be getting on his jacket in the process. His stomach ached at the slight movement. Simon would be making that horrified gagging face if he saw Raphael’s guts as they were right then, nearly spilling out onto the arm he had wrapped around himself. Five blocks. That was all he had to walk. One foot in front of the other. There was a pain inside. He could feel his blood moving wrong. Something had definitely been punctured during the fight, but then again when your guts were falling out maybe a puncture wasn’t the worst of situations. He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t the best at healing as it was.

He dragged himself along, moving inch by inch until a portal appeared in front of him. 

“Raphael Santiago Lightwood-Bane,” Magnus started with the same sharp tone he had developed the last time Raphael had gotten into trouble. 

“Hi, Papa,” he replied easily.

Magnus sighed. “Oh, dear boy, not again,” he was already heading towards him, arms outstretched for Raphael to fall into.

“It wasn’t my fault. I told them no fighting,” he muttered against Magnus’s chest.

“I’m sure,” Magnus assured. “Let’s get you home.”

“Where’s Dad?”

“He’s waiting for us.”

Magnus pulled him through the portal and into their living room. Alec, who was forever observant, jumped up from his place on the couch. “Who was it?” he demanded.

“Heal first. Questions later,” Magnus said at the same time Raphael blurted out, “Aldertree and friends”.

Magnus froze briefly in his attempts to lead Raphael over to the same black chair he had healed Raphael on the first time Aldertree had tortured him. His face drained of color. In contrast, Alec’s face had gone a furious shade of red, and he was moving on autopilot to the door. Magnus snapped back to the situation and guided Raphael down onto the chair. Magnus’s anger was always unusually silent, and Raphael recognized it instantly. Magnus’s way of handling anger was calm and plotting. He would heal while planning. 

Alec though. Raphael didn’t think he had seen him so angry, not even during their situation with Asmodeus. Alec looked ready to explode, and Raphael feared what he might do in his anger. He wasn’t afraid for himself, but he was afraid Alec might break every law the Clave had that night in order to make Aldertree pay.

“Alexander,” Magnus’s gentle tone indicated that he felt similarly.

“They went too far,” Alec gritted out, reaching for the bow he kept in the apartment. 

“I agree, but perhaps we should wait and think this through.”

“And give them a chance to blame everything on Raphael? To put him in more danger? Let me take care of them. You take care of him.”

The familiar blue glow of Magnus’s magic appeared, and Raphael’s muscles and skin tingled as they knit themselves back together. Raphael realized that Magnus was going to let Alec go through with his plan. He knew that the moment he was healed, Magnus would follow after Alec and help to take care of any remainders. They had both just been pushed past their limits.

In an act of desperation, to save the two from their own anger, Raphael played the one card he knew would work. He stopped hiding his pain. He dropped decades of training involving endurance, cold facades, and careless disregard for wounds no matter how great or small as long as they couldn’t kill him, and instead, he allowed himself to feel everything. Every stab wound, every cut, every scrape, and even every bruise. He let himself feel all of them.

Magnus gasped. “Oh, darling,” 

Raphael was crying and not silent tears. He was bawling like a child who had broken a bone for the first time, only his pain was about a million times worst. Alec had frozen the middle of grabbing his arrows. Raphael grabbed onto Magnus’s shirt with one hand and used his other to reach out to Alec. “It hurts,” he whined. 

“Dad, it hurts,” he said again after a moment, and that time it worked. Alec dropped his weapons and crossed the room in three quick steps to drop down next to him and clasped his other hand in his. 

“Your papa will make it better,” Alec assured. “Just hold onto me, sweetheart.” He glanced at Magnus over Raphael. “Do we need call Catarina?”

“No, I have this,” Magnus promised. While a lot of damage had been done to Raphael, all the injuries were things he knew how to treat. He focused on his healing while Alec focused on using a tissue to wipe away the tears on Raphael’s face. Once Raphael was healed, he still refused to let go of either of them. 

“Come on, darling, you need to sleep now. It’s late, and you need to recover.” Magnus gathered Raphael up, preparing to carry his currently half asleep son to bed.  
“Dad,” Raphael called weakly over Magnus’s shoulder when he saw Alec heading toward his weapons again. 

“I’m coming.” Alec hurried to Raphael’s bedroom. He swiftly turned down the blankets. Magnus hesitated to put Raphael down. Whenever he had a chance to carry him, he realized just how small his son was. Alec didn’t even have to use a strength rune to lift him, and Magnus himself felt like he could easily hold him for hours without feeling a strain. That was probably an exaggeration, but it was how he felt. Reluctantly, Magnus placed Raphael into the bed. He had fully fallen asleep by that point, and both Magnus and Alec worked together to tuck him in. Both of them kissed Raphael on the forehead and lingered a moment to reassure themselves that he was safe.

“It’s been a long time since he’s cried like that,” Alec commented, once both of them were certain that Raphael was completely asleep and not waking soon.

“It has.” Magnus was sorting things around the room, closing the curtain so that sunrise would not wake Raphael before he had gotten enough rest, smoothing down the blankets again, tidying up the few books not on the shelves. 

“It’s not been too long. I could track them down.”

“I could as well.”

“We can’t let them get away with doing this. If we allow them to escape punishment, then others will do the same.”

Magnus’s eyes glinted. “We will handle this.” 

“Tonight?”

“Yes. Tonight.”

Alec chewed on his bottom lip as he thought. “We can’t just run off and leave him here alone right now. You saw how upset he was.”

“He probably wouldn’t wake before we returned, but I don’t want to risk that,” Magnus agreed.

“We could call someone and ask them to come stay-”

Magnus smirked, finding just the slightest amusement in the situation despite his anger. “Are you suggesting we hire a sitter? Raphael will be furious.”

“Not a sitter. More like a bodyguard.”

Magnus nodded. “Who then? Jace or-?”

“No, we need someone who is capable of making him stay put if he wakes.”

“Ah, I have an idea,” Magnus pulled out his phone. “Hello, Lucian, we need a favor.”

Less than a half hour later, Magnus was letting Luke into their apartment. “Thank you for coming. We didn’t know who else to call.”

Luke waved off the gratitude. “With as many times as you’ve looked out for Simon and Clary for me, this is the least I could do to return the favor,” he said as he stepped inside. “Also, I hope you don’t mind, but I wasn’t alone when I got your call and -”

Alec’s eyes went wide. “Mom?”

Maryse stepped through the door behind Luke. “Where is he?”

“Raphael’s asleep in his room.”

Maryse brushed past all of them, heading straight for Raphael’s room.

Alec gave the others a bewildered look before following her. “Mom, when did you get here?”

Magnus raised an eyebrow at Luke, who shrugged. “It’s a new thing still. I think she was planning on inviting them to lunch tomorrow to let them know she was here and to explain um-this,” Luke offered.

“This family tree grows more complicated each day,” Magnus muttered but his eyes shone with amusement.

Inside the bedroom, Maryse had taken up a vigil next to Raphael’s side. She was running a hand through his hair which was in its naturally curly state thanks to the cleaning spell Magnus had cast before getting Raphael into his pajamas. Alec watched her for a moment before speaking. “I didn’t know you were back.”

“I was going to visit you in the morning.”

“But you were with Luke.”

“It’s…”

“He’s a good guy,” Alec said. “I don’t even feel the need to give him the shovel talk, but I could.”

“Shovel talk?” Maryse asked. 

Alec grinned and shook his head. “It’s a mundane thing. From a show.”

“Ah, perhaps you will explain it to me later. I trust you will be taking care of the people who did this.” She gestured at the scars still visible despite the healing. Alec imagined she would be far more furious if she saw what the blankets were hiding.

“We’ll make sure they regret what they did.”

“And it was shadowhunters?”

“Aldertree and some of his friends.”

Maryse nodded slowly. “I see.”

“We will try to be back before he wakes.”

Maryse waved him off. “Take your time. If Luke has an emergency with his pack, I will still be here. I will not leave until I am certain that my grandson is completely safe.”

Alec had a feeling he should be concerned about that comment, but that was a matter for another time. “Thanks, Mom.”

“Of course, darling. Now remember, the law is the law, but no one hurts our family.”

Alec nodded. “I understand.”

He and Magnus left Raphael with Luke and Maryse and began tracking the shadowhunters who had dared to harm their son. They found the place where Raphael had been attacked. Both grew ever angrier at the sight of the blood splattered throughout the alley. 

They tracked the shadowhunters down. The group had separated, and that made it even easier to deal with them. 

“We won’t kill them,” Alec determined. “Though I want to.”

“We’ll do worse,” Magnus replied.

Jace, who had been woken from his sleep by the feeling of his parabatai’s anger, was pacing the institute trying to call Alec when the man strolled inside. Magnus was next to him, and behind them trailed a line of shadowhunters, beaten enough to be stumbling along but bound by magical bonds that kept them moving. 

“What happened?”

“I want these people imprisoned for breaking the accords and for a murder attempt. I want them brought to face trial with the recommendation that they be deruned.”

The few people on night shift stared hesitantly at the group until Jace snapped his fingers. “You heard him. Do as he says.”

The prisoners were taken away to be locked up, and Jace was left to deal with his parabatai and his parabatai’s husband.“Now, tell me what happened?” Jace said again, though seeing how furious both men were he was starting to connect the dots. “Where’s Raphael?”

“He’s safe at home. No thanks to those pieces of filth,” Magnus replied, and Jace let out a sigh of relief. 

“They tried to kill him. He was carrying his own guts when he returned home,” Alec said, and Jace was tempted to go after the prisoners and get in a few hits of his own. He knew that wouldn’t do any good, so he concentrated on what was more important.

“Is he home alone?”

“Of course not,” Alec replied. “Luke’s watching him…and Mom.”

“She’s here?”

“Long story. I need to contact the Clave and get them started on this,” Alec said scrubbing tiredly at his eyes. So much had happened in only a few hours. He was exhausted.

“You can’t just launch this investigation yourself. They’ll see it as bias. You need leverage.”

“Then what do you suggest we do?” Alec asked.

“I have an idea, but it means bending a few laws. Give me your permission, and I’ll see it through.”

“Will it get anyone in trouble?” Magnus asked, looking even more exhausted than Alec.

“Only the ones who deserve to be,” Jace promised. 

Alec was across the room and embracing him in moments. “Thank you.”

“You never have to thank me. Just imagine what you would do if someone had attacked my kids.”

Alec laughed slightly. “At least I have awhile before I need to worry about that.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

Alec pulled away and stared Jace down. “Are you and Clary-”

Jace chuckle and shook his head. Even Magnus who had been off in the corner texting Luke updates to try to give the parabatais a moment of privacy had frozen and was staring at Jace with an unreadable expression. “I know this probably isn’t the best time to be saying anything, but we decided today actually that we’re going to be actively trying from now on. I didn’t want to wait to tell you. Clary’s probably already told Izzy.”

“I’m so happy for you two,” Alec said. “You’re going to do so well at being a dad.”

“Yes, you will, and please let us know if you need any help at any time with anything. Potions, baby fashion, anything,” Magnus added.

Jace laughed. “We will,” he promised. “But you two need to get home now. Make sure Mom isn’t smothering Raphael and get some rest. Leave the Clave stuff to me for the rest of today. I’ll drop by and check in with you both sometime this evening,” he ushered them off as they thanked him again. 

Magnus was tempted to open a portal, but his magic was drained and what little he had left he wanted to save for any emergencies. They hailed a cab and tumbled inside. Both were too exhausted to even walk back. 

“Maybe we’ll get back before he even knows we were gone,” Alec said, knowing that while Magnus was happy they had caught the men who had hurt their son he was also feeling guilty about leaving him when he was in such a state.

“Do you two need me to do the affair drop off? Park around the corner type deal?” The cabbie asked gruffly. “Not that I approve of such things, but who am I to judge?”

“No affair drop offs. We’re happily married, and no one is cheating,” Alec informed him. “We’re just avoiding waking our son when we get in.”

The cabbie lightened immediately. “Ah yes, my wife and I sneak off for date nights some times. It’s hard to get your kids to listen to you about not coming home late at night when you’re sneaking in yourself after three am. How old is yours?”

“Fifteen,” Magnus replied easily, though Alec could see he was tempted to tell the truth just to see the mundane’s reaction.”

“I’ve got one that age. So grumpy sometimes. At least they grow out of that eventually.”

Magnus snorted. “I doubt that.”

“Nah, nah. You two are young. I’m surprised you even old enough to have a fifteen year old. Trust me though. Things get easier. Now, I believe we have arrived.”

Magnus paid the cabbie, tipping a little too generously, then he and Alec supported each other on the walk up to the apartment. Luke was cooking when they arrived. The smells of a homemade breakfast made by someone who could actually cook flooded through the apartment, and both of them were tempted to go straight to the kitchen.

“He’s asleep right now. He woke up briefly. Maryse got him to eat a little and then convinced him to go back to sleep,” Luke said before they could even ask. It was nice having another dad figure around who understood their concerns. “It’s a slow day for both Maryse and myself, so why don’t you two slip in and see for yourselves that he’s fine. Then you two can shower and change and come eat something before you both rest for a few hours. We can discuss the next steps at breakfast.”

“We couldn’t put you out like that,” Magnus started to say. 

“It’s not putting us out. Maryse is not leaving Raphael anytime soon. She very much adores him if you didn’t notice, and while I am doing this because you are my friends, it also allows me to fulfill my selfish desire to spend a bit more time with Maryse.”

Magnus and Alec found themselves agreeing if only because they were too tired to argue further. Both were grateful for the help though, and they slipped into the bedroom to check on their son. 

“How was he?” Alec asked.

Maryse was still seated next to him as if she had not moved the whole time, but she had a book in her hand that she had apparently been reading aloud from. “He woke around five, and he was a little upset, but it wasn’t because you two weren’t here,” she quickly assured. “He had had a bit of a nightmare, but I handled it. He drank a cup of blood, and then we read a story until he fell back asleep.” She waved the book a bit. “Now I will keep sitting with him while you two go clean up. Go on.”

Showered and changed into their sleepwear, the two men then joined Luke and Maryse for breakfast. They left Raphael’s door open, and Luke promised to use his hearing to inform them if he heard the slightest movement come from the room. Meanwhile, they got everyone caught up on the situation at hand, and Luke told them that Jace had already contacted him to play a part in the plan while they had been showering. They had eaten breakfast, and both of them were feeling some of their tension fade away, when Luke suddenly froze in the middle of what he was saying. 

“I believe he is waking.”

Both Magnus and Alec leapt from the table and ran to the bedroom in time to see Raphael’s eyes flutter open. “Papa, Dad,” he greeted tiredly and reached up to them. Both of them were fawning over him instantly. It was obvious though that he was still as exhausted as they felt. 

“How are you feeling, Sweetheart?” Alec asked.

“Does anything still hurt, my darling?” Magnus followed up.

“No, just tired,” Raphael’s words came out a mumble in his exhaustion. 

“We’re were just about to take a nap ourselves,” Magnus told him. “Do you want to come sleep in our bed?”

Raphael hesitated for a moment before nodding and raising his arms. Alec picked him up. The tired family made their way to the other bedroom which had the bigger bed of the two. Maryse watched them fondly. Luke raised an eyebrow at the sight at first. He was still used to the image of them as three of the most powerful people in the city and not so much as two doting fathers and their somewhat temperamental son. 

“We’re going to get some rest now,” Alec told them. Raphael had gone back to hiding his face. Apparently he had forgotten they had company when he had unofficially asked to be carried. 

“We’ll be out here if you need anything,” Maryse assured.

“How long do you think your mother will stay?” Magnus whispered once they were in the room. 

“We’ll think about that after sleep,” Alec promised. His brain was too foggy to think of anything else. 

However embarrassed Raphael was, he forgot all that once he was tucked in between the two of them in their bed. Magnus and Alec locked arms over him as if to protect him in their sleep. Surrounded by both his dads and with his grandmother and her—werewolf pack leader friend? Boyfriend? Standing outside, Raphael fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

Two weeks later, they were all in court. Raphael was seated carefully between his dads with every other shadowhunter he could call family surrounding them. Aldertree and the others who had attacked him were standing on trial. Lydia Branwell acted as their lawyer.

“A formal complaint has been lodged against these shadowhunters for violation of the accords and for an attempt to murder a consultant of the institute. This complaint was lodged by a several shadowhunters within this institute. While conducting interviews surrounding this case, it was found that many more violations had been made including interrogations of several innocent downworlders. I trust you all will take this evidence into account. Also, I would like you to take into account that if these people are not properly punished for their actions, the werewolf pack of New York, the Brooklyn clan, the vast majority of New Yorks warlock population, and several members of the Seelie Queen’s court have all sworn oaths to break whatever truces they hold with the shadowhunters. They would like to remind the Clave that part of the arrangements of the new accords include just punishment for shadowhunters who violate those laws.”

That had been Jace’s plan, and every downworlder had been willing to go along. None of them wanted to risk someone they knew being interrogated by a man like Aldertree, and the personal case had turned into a large scale issue. 

Raphael tried not to squirm under the many watchful eyes that seemed to be on him during the trial. It wasn’t just favoritism. Any downworlder who had received the treatment he had would be deserving of the same protection. It still didn’t keep him from subtly clinging to both Alec and Magnus’s hands while they waited for the ruling. When the ruling was announced, and Aldertree and all his associates were scheduled to be deruned within twenty-four hours, Raphael couldn’t believe it. He was in a stupor while other people congratulated each other on a just ruling. He allowed himself to be led around and nodded along with some of the conversations. Nothing really sunk in until Lydia came up to him. 

“I don’t think we’ve formally met,” she said. “I’m Lydia. I’m your almost step-mom.” Raphael spluttered while Lydia grinned that grin that meant she was proud of her own humor. “Sorry about that, but I couldn’t resist. Izzy keeps me filled in on everything that’s happening here.”

Raphael just shook his head. “You’re all impossible.”

“We try.”

“Thank you for helping with all of this,” he said after a moment.

Lydia shrugged. “I’m a strong believer in fair treatment of all. It’s why I do this.”

“Well, thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now, I do believe you have two people who are still in overprotective mode hovering behind you, so I’m going to leave you to handle them alone.”

Magnus and Alec were indeed hovering just behind him. Both were smiling, obviously pleased with the outcome of the trial. 

“There’s a group that wants to go out for celebration drinks. We wanted to see if you wanted to do that, or if you wanted to go home,” Magnus told him. 

“Well, what are you two doing?”

“Whichever you pick,” Alec told him.

“You two can go without me, just so you know.” They hadn’t left him alone since the attack. “Seriously, I am fine to go out on my own again or to stay home alone.”

They exchanged looks with each other. “Yeah, but we’re not ready yet,” Magnus said.

Raphael sighed. He would humor them for another day then. “Fine. Let’s all go for drinks until I get bored.” They both grinned at him and steered him towards the exit. “And another thing. That whole arranging for Luke and Maryse to be sitters was a one time only thing. That’s not going to be a thing now.”

“Yes, of course,” Alec agreed.

“Whatever you say, darling,” Magnus echoed. 

Raphael rolled his eyes. It was going to be a long eternity with the two of them.


	9. Promptfic: Injured Alec

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Promptfic for Achmanno who requested: "Could you write some protective!Raphael hurt!Alec?" (I hope you like it!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am currently working on 3 other promptfics as well for  
> Ctr56, ThePenNeverStops, and Alexeis, so don't worry, friends, yours are coming along. I just have different spots for them in the outline.

It had been a slow day, and by nightfall, Raphael was so bored that he decided to drop in the institute to see if he could help on patrol or research or even helping to train some newbies. That all changed when he stepped inside the door. He ignored the people cheerfully greeting him and instead concentrated on his senses. Alec was bleeding. Raphael could smell the scent of his blood as soon as he entered the institute. He growled lowly and headed straight for the source. Everyone that caught a glimpse of him seemed to know to keep out of his way. Some though were not quite quick enough to dodge the blur that raced through the halls and found themselves being tossed aside in his haste. He traced the scent to the infirmary and found Alec, looking paler than ever, stretched across one of the beds while Jace and Isabelle were doing their best to patch him up with bandages and healing runes.  


“Have you even called Papa yet?” he asked.  


Both siblings looked up at him in shock. “Raphael, what are you doing here?”  


“Does it matter? Now, did you call Papa? He can heal him faster than the two of you can.”  


“I told them not to,” Alec interrupted weakly.  


“That’s stupid.”  


Alec chuckled which caused him to grimace as his ribs protested. “It’s not life-threatening. There’s no need for Magnus to waste his magic on a few minor injuries.”  


Raphael rolled his eyes and muttered something in Spanish that Alec loosely understood as a comment on stubborn idiots. He couldn’t be sure though as his Spanish was far from perfect yet, and Raphael switched to a more archaic phrasing whenever he was being particularly insulting.  


“Who or what did this?” he asked, trying to appear calm. He apparently wasn’t doing very well at it because Alec had already reached out and took hold of his hand to tug him closer. Then again, Alec had gotten as bad as Magnus about how tactile he was with other people. Since Alec was injured, Raphael didn’t protest the public affection and instead let himself be pulled to sit on the edge of the bed where he could act as both a source of comfort and also as a guardian against anything else that might dare to attack Alec that evening.  


Isabelle and Jace were watching quietly from the side. Based on their reactions, Raphael was concerned he had already missed out on getting a hit in on whatever it was.  


“The demon that did this has been taken care of,” Alec replied, confirming Raphael’s thought. His hand twitched, but he breathed in deeply.  


“Dead or arrested?”  


“Dead,” Jace replied. “I cut off its head.”  


“You do know that that doesn’t permanently kill everything?”  


“We did a bit more to it after. Just to confirm,” Isabelle assured, and Raphael trusted her as the forensics specialist that she was.  


“Were there more of them?”  


“A few stragglers. Clary and Simon are tracking them, but we’re going back out to take care of them now.”  


Raphael looked between Alec and the others. “I’m coming too,” he decided after a moment.  


“Rapha,” Alec started to protest. Raphael was already on his phone, sending a text message that should have been sent much earlier. His parents could be so unreasonable with their sentimental crap sometimes. Luckily, they had him to fix things. He waited for a reply and then nodded approvingly.  


“Papa’s on his way.”  


Alec sighed. “Raphael,-”  


“Would you let me hide something like this?” Raphael quickly interrupted  


“No,” Alec reluctantly confirmed.  


“And just so you know, I’m too old for that whole ‘do as I say not as I do’ to work on me, so you’ll have to endure my calling you out on any hypocrisy.” He didn’t need to look to know both Jace and Isabelle were enjoying their conversation. He did soften his words by very very quickly planting a kiss on his dad’s cheek before jumping away and acting like Jace and Isabelle hadn’t seen anything.  


“Are we going to go then?” he asked them.  


Jace nodded. “Let’s go. Rest well, brother.”  


“Yes, big brother. No more risks today please,” Isabelle added.  


Raphael followed the shadowhunters back out of the institute and to where the attack had taken place. “Are either of you going to tell me how exactly he got injured? I assume he did something selfless again to get injuries like that.”  


“He dove in front of me,” Isabelle confirmed. “We were surrounded and barely holding our own. I was trapped between two of them, and when a third tried to get in a hit, Alec used himself as a shield.”  


Raphael sighed. “I know you can’t control all situations, but most of Dad’s injuries come from protecting all of you. That can’t keep happening.”  


“We don’t like it any better than you do,” Jace tried to defend. “He is our brother, you know.”  


“Yes, and he’s my dad, and I’m the one that sees him coming home with unnecessary injuries every other week now. Just-” Raphael searched for the words. “Stop putting yourselves in situations where he has to take more risks. Start running away more often and calling for backup. There are downworlders on every other street willing to help out if you ask them. Dad’s immortal now, but he’s far from invincible. Neither Papa nor I are ready to lose him any time soon.” He was close to both Jace and Isabelle, but he had never spoken to them in such a way about his relationship with Alec. His “uncle” and “aunt” seemed a bit caught off guard by his nearly desperate tone.  


“We’ll be more careful,” Isabelle promised immediately.  


“He’ll never be safer,” Jace agreed.  


“Good because if this happens again, I’ll make sure you’re all trained in better forms of combat, and it won’t be pleasant.”  


Both of them smiled as if he were a child that had said something particularly precocious, and Raphael reminded himself to take out any annoyances on the demons who had attacked his dad. Luckily, they found the remaining demons pretty quickly. Clary and Simon were waiting for them before attacking. At least those two had managed to learn a few common sense practices over the years. Raphael may have gone a bit overboard during the fight, but none of the demons were left standing. None of them were injured either beyond a few scrapes and bruises. Raphael didn’t have any injuries at all unless you counted demon blood stains on one of his favorite jackets. Magnus could fix that though.  


Raphael nearly ran ahead of the others to get back to the institute, but he managed to keep up his calm facade the whole way back until they reached the infirmary. He relaxed completely when he saw that Magnus was seated by Alec’s side, and the two were holding hands and talking softly. Alec looked much better. Magnus had definitely used some magic on him, but Raphael could tell from a glance that Alec had stopped him from using much. The shadowhunter still had a look of tiredness and soreness about him.  


“There you are,” Magnus greeted the moment he noticed Raphael, and both of them pointedly looked him over for any injuries. When they realized that he was not injured, Magnus instead began fussing over the stained jacket. “You look so good in this one too. I can probably fix it though,” he said while helping him out of it and poofing it back to their apartment before the blood could spread.  


Raphael took a seat on the edge of the bed and watched quietly as the others chatted with Alec and Magnus. Occasionally, someone would talk to him, but he thought they could sense his reluctance to talk right then. Alec definitely could because after a few minutes, he released an exaggerated yawn.  


“I think it’s time that we get home,” Magnus said as he also caught on to the situation. He and Raphael helped Alec up. They all said their goodbyes, and then Magnus portaled them home. Alec immediately dropped onto the couch while Magnus set about fixing up something that he swore would get rid of any remaining symptoms Alec was still experiencing, and Raphael had to watch for a moment to determine if it was a potion or a cocktail. It turned out to be both. Alec, who had stretched out to take up the whole couch, was watching his husband’s every move with adoring eyes.  


“You two are so hopeless sometimes,” Raphael commented after a moment.  


Alec laughed and turned his attention to Raphael. “Are you staying in for the rest of the night then?”  


Raphael shifted his weight onto his heels. “I could go out if you two wanted some time alone.” It was actually the last thing he wanted to do.  


Alec huffed out a sigh. “You have got to learn that we can never get enough of you,” he reminded him. “Now, c’mere, sweetheart,” he said and held out a hand. Raphael rolled his eyes but shuffled over, and Alec tugged him down on the couch. It took some rearranging since Alec was as long as the actual couch, but eventually, they settled with Raphael laying half on top of Alec.  


“This is only because you were injured,” Raphael remarked. “This is not going to become a regular thing.”  


“Mhm-hm,” Alec mumbled and ran a hand through Raphael’s hair to get it to fall out of its gelled form.  


“You should stay home tomorrow,” Raphael said after a few moments.  


“I guess I could work from home tomorrow.”  


“Good. Because I was going to follow you to the institute if you didn’t stay home,” he admitted.  


Magnus wandered back in then and took in the sight of them with a smile on his face. “Here you are, handsome,” he handed Alec the cocktail/potion hybrid while also giving him a kiss. 

“Do you think there’s any room for me in this cuddle pile then?”  


“Always,” Alec replied and with a surprising amount of core strength lifted himself and Raphael up long enough for Magnus to slide in behind him until Alec could use Magnus’s chest as a back pillow. The three of them got comfortable.  


“I could stay like this all night,” Magnus said after a moment.  


“I could too,” Alec agreed.  


Raphael, who was content with having his family safe in one place, nodded against Alec’s chest knowing that Magnus could see the movement as well as Alec could feel it. He had no plans on letting either of them out of his sight for rest of the night.


	10. Downworlder Flu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Downworlder flu strikes 
> 
> poor whump and fluff. It's just all mush. Enjoy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is a bit late. This chapter caused me much pain as I typed it all up and then due to a glitch it all got deleted (including the 3 back ups which suffered a file corruption. -_-;) I typed it all up again today (so I hope it's still up to par)

The moment Raphael walked into the door, Alec knew what was wrong. Still he waited for the other to admit it before he tried to do anything. 

“Dad, I don’t feel well.” Each word came out as if forced from his lips, and Alec sighed.

“Oh, sweetheart, it looks like you caught it too.”

Raphael nodded slowly but didn’t move away from the door-frame. He didn’t trust himself to move right then with how his stomach was rolling. His face turned a disturbing shade of green, and Alec leapt into action, quickly grabbing a trash bin. Thankfully, it didn’t yet seem to be needed.

“I’m going to take you to our room. I’m sure Magnus would love the company.”

Magnus, who had been taking the opportunity to catch up on his reality tv shows since his own encounter with the epidemic, was not entirely surprised to see Alec returning to their bedroom with their son and a trash bin rather than the tea he had gone to fetch. 

“Oh, dear one, you’ve caught it too?” he asked reaching out for him. Alec guided him to sit on the edge of the bed leaving Magnus to fuss over him while he set about trying to find sleep clothes. It was becoming a routine, and Alec knew there was a preferred shirt from his own collection for times like this. Raphael, who was still perfectly coherent if just a little queasy and tired, let himself be fussed over for the moment. 

“When did you start feeling poorly?” Magnus asked trying to get an idea of how long Raphael might have been sick.

“I started feeling off just before the meeting,” he admitted.

“You should have postponed it.”

“Hah, as if you two would have postponed it.”

He had them there. Alec deftly undid the many buttons on his outfit, shocked at the heat that was radiating off the normally cool skin. For him to have gotten so sick so quickly was worrisome. Magnus had been sick for days before getting such a bad fever, and then it had taken a whole day for the fever to go down even with potions. A part of Alec hoped that since the sickness had hit Raphael so quickly that it might make for a quicker recovery too, but somehow he doubted that was the case.

“You wear too many layers,” he teased gently. If it had been Jace or Simon, he would have just tossed them a shirt to go with their boxers, but Raphael was his father’s son, and that meant that if he had to be laid up during his normally awake hours, then he still had to look suitable for any possible surprise company which meant proper sleep clothes. Though Alec had managed to talk them out of the silk and satin apparel they usually favored and instead into something more comfortable for lounging around in. 

“I’m going to go get him some of those potions Cat dropped off. Same dosage?”

“Half a dosage more of the fever reducer. Just to be safe,” Magnus instructed. Catarina had very thoughtfully dropped off a large supply of medicinal potions when she had heard Magnus was getting sick to save him from having to brew them himself. She had had more than enough on hand with Madzie having caught the flu as well, and while she couldn’t stay long for not wanting to leave Madzie for more than a minute, she had made sure that her friend had had everything he would need to recover. She had also given him extra knowing that likely a few of their friends would be showing up with the same illnesses. 

Alec darted off to get the potions and everything else and left Magnus to fuss over Raphael in the meantime. 

“I haven’t been this sick in forever,” Raphael moaned dramatically.

Magnus chuckled. “Oh you poor little baby.”

“I would pinch you if I didn’t think moving would make me sick.”

Magnus stopped laughing. “Is it really that bad?” 

As if answering, Raphael whirled around and leaned over the edge of the bed, emptying the contents of his stomach into the bin Alec had thoughtfully left behind. It hurt. How had he forgotten how bad being sick hurt? It felt like it wouldn’t stop. Magnus grabbed at him, bracing him up with one hand while rubbing his back with the other. 

“Poor baby.” That time the words lacked the laughter of before. “Alexander!” he called loudly.

“Not a baby,” Raphael mumbled, swiping at his face. Alec rushed into the room and winced at the sight of Raphael. 

“What can I do?”

“We’re going to need some of that tea too. And that green vial.” 

“Ginger or peppermint?” 

“Ginger,” Raphael replied. 

“Coming up,” Alec promised. “And do you still want the same tea?”

“Whatever’s easier for you, my love.”

Those two and all their affectionate terms. Really. As if Raphael wasn’t nauseated enough. Alec disappeared to grab the extra items, and after a few moments more, Raphael finally thought he might be finished.

Magnus ran a hand through his hair. “Feeling better?” Raphael waited a moment more to see then nodded slowly. “Good. Then let’s get you laying down.” There was some maneuvering about, but then Raphael found himself propped against Magnus’s ridiculously fluffy pillows. Magnus tugged at the bottom of Raphael’s shirt until he could slip a hand under it, a risky move that only Magnus (and maybe Alec) could get away with without it resulting in a quick and bloody death. Raphael couldn’t complain though, not when the hand drawing circles on his stomach was the only thing easing the pain. He knew without looking that Magnus was using magic. It was the only way his stomach could have recovered so quickly.

“Don’t. You’re sick too,” he protested.

“I’m not using much. Just enough to rid you of the worst of it, so that you can keep the medicine down.”

Magnus stayed true to his word and by the time Alec returned, the magic had stopped though Magnus’s hand remained on Raphael’s stomach up until Alec handed him his tea. Raphael wasn’t without a hovering parent for long though as the moment Magnus was settled with his own beverage, Alec was taking a seat on the bed and pulling Raphael into his lap. Raphael let himself fall against Alec’s chest. It would have been embarrassing, but it was just the three of them and he had caught the other two in far more embarrassing positions before. Besides, he was tired and sick. He could get away with being a little needy. Alec reached over and took things from a tray he had thought to set up next to the bed, and he helped Raphael take potion after potion, carefully waiting after each one to make sure the bin would not be needed again. Finally when both Magnus and Alec were satisfied that Raphael had taken all the necessary medicines, Alec helped him to sip at the tea. 

Raphael was content to sit and sip at whatever Alec handed him. He switched between listening to the tv drone on in the background and Magnus and Alec quietly discussing their days and other domestic things. He knew they were avoiding discussing any kind of work on purpose to keep him from actually becoming interested in their conversation. He started to drift off, and Alec put away the tea and switched to stroking his hair.

“You should rest too,” Magnus was telling Alec. “I don’t want you making yourself sick from exhaustion from looking after us.” 

Alec chuckled softly. His rumbling chest lulled Raphael closer to sleep. “I’m fine,” he assured. “If I was going to catch it, I would have already. And taking care of two of my three favorite guys is far from exhausting.”

“Two of three, huh?” Magnus asked with obvious amusement. 

“If I don’t include Jace then Raphael will run tell him the moment he’s better, and then I’ll have to deal with him whining for the rest of his lifetime and possibly a few more after that.”

“I would do no such thing, Raphael protested around a yawn. 

“Oh sure. You’re not the jealous type at all,” Magnus teased.

“I’m not jealous. I just like when people know I’ve won.”

“And what did you win from Jace?”

“Both of you,” Raphael replied easily. “He can be the parabatai, but I’m the son.”

Magnus cooed. “Aw, you’re sentimental when you’re sick.”

“Shut it.”

Both Magnus and Alec just laughed at him, and he couldn’t even retaliate as he finally lost his battle with sleep.

He woke up some time later to the sound of Alec’s phone beeping. “Sorry,” Alec murmured while stretching to reach the device.

“Tell whoever it is that you’re busy. They can’t really expect you to do any work when you’re on family sick leave,” Magnus complained.

Alec, who had been reading his messages, sighed. “It would seem that that’s exactly why they need me.”

It had been Clary who contacted them about Simon being sick. Normally, she would have been over at his place taking care of her best friend herself, especially since she herself was also immune to the flu, but she was on bed-rest for the remainder of her pregnancy and forbidden to leave the institute. Jace couldn’t check on Simon for her either. He had proclaimed himself some kind of guard dog for Clary and didn’t dare to leave her side for longer than it took him to stick his head out of the door and yell for someone to go get whatever Clary needed. Isabelle had been trying to take care of Simon on her own, but with Alec on sick leave, Clary on bed-rest, and Jace occupied with fetching sketch pads and food, she had found herself taking on most of the responsibility for the institute that week. Simon was grateful that she was still trying to take care of him as well, but he was also concerned that he could no longer tell if he was getting sick from his flu or if it was from the Izzy soup. Of course, he had only confided that in Clary after making her promise not to tell, but somehow he thought Isabelle was beginning to suspect things too.

“Izzy needs some help with Simon. She was wondering if he could stay with us until he’s more recovered.”

“I suppose,” Magnus replied at the same time that Raphael groaned. His nap had left him feeling much better than before, but news that someone would becoming into their private space when he wasn’t at his best had him squirming.

“We could even go out and get some fresh air on the patio,” Alec suggested which ended the complaints before they could really start.

“Fine,” Raphael muttered. “As long as he stays away from my bed.”

“Don’t worry. You won’t have to share,” Magnus assured.

Alec had fully convinced himself that taking care of three mostly adult people would not be a particularly difficult task, and so when Isabelle arrived, he opened the apartment door confidently. Then he saw exactly what was waiting for him on the other side.

“Hi, big brother, sorry we didn’t call ahead about the slight change in plans,” Isabelle greeted him with a sheepish grin. She stood carefully supporting Simon with one arm and Maia with the other. Behind her trailed a very reluctant look.

Alec took in the sight and somehow managed to open the door the rest of the way. “Come on in. We were just about to go rest on the patio for some fresh air if you would all like to go that way.” He had been living with Magnus for far too long that those words were the first he thought to say.

Isabelle did help him get everyone settled onto the patio before she had to leave. Once they had everyone set up with drinks, potions, and some form of entertainment, Alec dragged his sister to the soundproof bedroom.

“Want to explain to me why I suddenly have five patients rather than two?”

“Well, you knew about Simon.”

“Yes, I knew about Simon, but you neglected to mention that you would also be bring along two more friends.”

“Well, Maia’s fiance defending his dissertation this week, so she couldn’t stay at home and risk spreading it to him. She went to Luke’s. But both of them were sick, and Simon was talking to them and he told me, and I kind of-”

“You told them to come on other and neglected to say that you would be dropping them all off on your way too generous big brother?”

Isabelle shrugged. “I was going to look after them, but duty calls. You know how it is.”

“Yeah, about that. I was thinking we could take turns until this all is over. Maybe six hour shifts between here and the institute.”

Isabelle laughed at the idea. “Oh please. Do you really think Magnus wants anyone other than you taking care of him when he’s in such a state? And I know for a fact that Raphael would be just as bad if not worse about things.”

Alec sighed, knowing it was the truth. He wouldn’t be able to get much done at the institute anyway knowing that the two of them were sick, and he wasn’t there to make sure they didn’t need anything.

Isabelle hugged him. “I am very very sorry that I have brought you all this extra work, but I promise I will check in as often as I can.”

Alec returned the hug. “No, I don’t want you worried over this. You’re doing enough as it is overseeing the institute for me. I can handle sick duty.”

“Okay, but call me if things get too much. I’ll see if I can do some rearranging,” she instructed then she planted a kiss on his cheek and took her leave.

“At least we can suffer in luxury,” Maia was saying when Alec returned to the patio. She was right. The Lightwood-Bane apartment was probably the ideal place to suffer being a magical apartment which catered to the needs of its residents and with a calm shadowhunter on hand to do anything that the apartment could not do. There were, of course, some limitations to the apartment. The patio was only large enough to fit three of the luxurious day beds, and so the patients had been forced to pair up.

Magnus had claimed one for himself, saying that Alec could share with him whenever he wasn’t taking care of them. He had first tried to get Raphael to share with him, not over his urge to coddle even though there was company present. Raphael, however, could very much resist the urge to be coddled in the presence of their company and had instead chosen to share with Maia, who felt awkward sharing with either Luke or Simon right then. Though Maia and Raphael got along surprisingly well, so it hadn’t come as that much of a surprise that they had partnered up and were busy discussing the benefits of turning the nightclub into a restaurant during the day and things that could be added to the menu. Luke and Simon had been left to share the last day bed with Simon looking far more comfortable with the idea than the older man. That was possibly because Luke seemed very determined to get some sleep while Simon seemed determined to get him to play just about any game they had on hand. 

As soon as Alec was on the patio, Magnus waved him over. “I was feeling lonely,” he claimed tugging Alec to sit next to him. 

“Oh do forgive me for leaving you alone for three whole minutes,” he teased while wrapping an arm around him. Magnus chuckled, but the sound turned to a cough. Alec stroked his back until he recovered. “Just rest. I’ll be right here,” he promised.

The time on the patio was relatively peaceful. He’d had to confiscate the textbooks Maia tried to slip out for some “light reading”, and he had had to break up a paper airplane fight between Raphael, Simon, and Maia when it went from casual fun to bordering on their usual intense competitions. Other than that, it had been simple enough to just refill drinks when needed. At one point everyone had even been content to cloud gaze. Though that too had somehow ended up being a competition. Alec wasn’t sure how any of the people in their social group managed to maintain good relationships with how competitive they all were.

Eventually though, they had had to return indoors when Alec noticed that the flush on Raphael’s face was not being caused just from fever but also from exposure to the sun, and if Raphael had to go in, they all had to go in. Alec had no interest in having to listen to his son pout about how unfair it was that he had to be indoors when everyone else got to stay outside. Not that Alec would ever admit that was his excuse for trying to get everyone to go in. Magnus thankfully saved him from having to explain anything by just suggesting they make use of their over the top entertainment system to have a movie marathon, and thankfully no one had seemed opposed to the idea. 

Unfortunately, the movie marathon did not go as planned. Magnus, who had been convinced by everyone that no one expected him to play host, had retreated to their bedroom for a nap. He was in the last stages of his flu and the exhaustion of it all had him wanting to sleep more than stare at a screen. Luke, who was apparently the type to literally sleep off an illness, settled on one of the couches as if he intended to watch a movie, but then closed his eyes before they ever chose anything. “Just not Twilight,” he had muttered when they started to discuss options. 

Maia had eventually taken off to the guest room to get in a nap herself and also to avoid having to listen Simon and Raphael argue over movie choices.

“What if we all take turns,” Alec was suggesting while adding yet another pillow to the stack acting as a barrier between Simon and Raphael. The two of them had been left to share the second couch because Alec had momentarily forgotten that despite their ages, neither one of them was capable of acting like an adult around the other. That was just the kind of strange friendship they had: one that thrived on bringing out the immaturity in each other and also the competitiveness.

Alec originally was to just sit between them to keep them from doing anything chaotic, but he liked to think he was a somewhat intelligent person and decided against doing such a thing. “We can each pick a movie.”

“He has truly awful taste in films,” Raphael explained as to why Simon could not be given a chance to control the remote. 

“Hey! I’ll have you know that all those movies I suggested are classics!” Simon exclaimed.

“I sincerely doubt that the new versions of the ninja turtles are considered classics,” Raphael replied dryly.

“As if anything you suggested was any better.”

Alec gave a long-suffering sigh. “If you two cannot get along then it’s nap time,” he announced. He heard Luke snort under his breath and glared half-heartedly in the older man’s direction. No one was buying that he was sleeping through all this. The cheat. The threat seemed effective though as both Simon and Raphael went silent. 

“Now, you’re going to pick one movie and watch it. Then when it’s over, you’re going to let Simon have a turn,” he instructed while handing the remote to Raphael. 

“Why does he automatically get to go first? You’re totally playing favorites,” Simon protested. 

“Of course, I’m playing favorites. He’s my son, and you’re the guy flirting with my sister.”

“It’s more than just flirting! We’re in a relationship.”

“Then make it official. It’s been five years already.”

Simon’s eyes widened. “Did I just get your permission?”

“What? No! Dad, tell him no. I don’t want an uncle Simon!” 

Alec really wanted to bang his head against a wall, but he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be an effective caretaker with a concussion. “Luke,-”

“Oh no, I have nothing to do with this nonsense,” the man replied while slipping a cold cloth back over his eyes. 

Alec handed off the remote to Raphael. “Share,” he reminded the two. “I’m going to go check on Magnus.” As he entered the bedroom, he heard both of the daylighters suddenly exclaim, “Oh, Hotel Transylvania!” and then a feeling of peace descended over the apartment momentarily. 

Alec entered his bedroom and shut the door, making sure he fully in the one way soundproof room before he released the groan he had been holding in. Magnus, who was actually flipping through a magazine rather than sleeping, looked up with a chuckle.

“Sounds like some fun is happening out there,” he said with a grin. 

Alec dragged himself across the room and flopped onto the bed dramatically. What could he say? Being related to the two most dramatic people in the city was starting to have an effect on him. 

“If how Raphael acts when he’s around Simon is any indication, then I suggest we wait a few more years before we add to our family.”

Magnus’s lips twitched upward. “Ah yes. For someone who was the eldest in a large family for such a large portion of his life, it does seem that he’s more suited to being an only child these days.”

“It’s because you’ve spoiled him.”

Magnus placed a hand to his chest and gasped. “As if I would ever do such a thing!” He placed aside his magazine to instead cuddle closer to Alec. “Besides, I’m pretty sure you’ve been doing a lot of the spoiling recently.”

“I don’t spoil him. I just have trouble saying ‘no’ to him sometimes.”

“He does have that angel face.”

“And the curls.”

“And his glares are actually quite terrifying sometimes.”

“That too.”

Alec curled around Magnus. He kissed his forehead and was pleased to feel no extra heat radiating from the skin. “How are you feeling?” 

“Much better,” he replied. “What about you? You’re not exhausting yourself right?”

“I’m doing just fine,” Alec promised. 

“Five patients isn’t too much to handle?”

“Not at all,” Alec promised. It really wasn’t. 

“You should still stay with me for a while. Take a nap and get some real rest while everyone is content for the time being.”

“I think I could do that,” he leaned forward to get another kiss, but Magnus blocked him. 

“You should stick to the forehead for now. I’m all gross.”

Alec rolled his eyes. “You could never be gross.” 

“You say that now, but just wait until I cough into your mouth.”

“I still wouldn’t think you were gross, but if you want me to wait to kiss you then I will. May I keep holding you?”

Magnus grinned. “That you can definitely do.”

The two of them curled around each other and fell into a restful sleep. Alec would have kept sleeping but a sudden shouting of his name had him instantly wide awake. 

“That was Simon,” he said when Magnus blinked up at him confusedly. 

“You should go see what he wants. You did tell him to stay out of the kitchen, right?”

“I’m pretty sure.”

Alec reluctantly released his hold on Magnus and pulled himself out of the bed and back to the living room. 

“What can I help you with-” he immediately saw the problem himself. Raphael, flushed brightly with fever, was clutching one of the bins to his chest. Simon had thrown down all the pillows in the pillow barrier and was struggling to support Raphael while also trying to look anywhere else. Despite having been turned years ago, Simon still had a squeamish nature. Alec was pleased by the fact that even with his squeamish nature, Simon didn’t seem to have hesitated before jumping in to help Raphael. He would have to give him more credit.

Thankfully though, Luke had also jumped in to help or else Alec was pretty sure there would have been a mess on the floor with how Raphael was barely able to hold the bin. Alec quickly moved between Simon and Raphael, taking Simon’s place of supporting. Simon went to clutch at his own bin though he fortunately didn’t seem to actually need it right then. 

“I’ve got it,” Alec quietly assured Luke, who leaned back with a sigh. The vomiting had ended, but the dry heaves wouldn’t seem to stop. Raphael was a left a mess with his red face and teary eyes. Alec kept rubbing at his back trying to help calm him. Finally, after what felt like forever, Raphael slumped sideways into Alec’s chest. 

“Do you think you’re finished?” Alec asked. 

Raphael nodded weakly against his chest. 

Alec put down the bin and was happy to see that the self-cleaning spell on it from earlier was still working. “Okay, Baby, I think it’s time that you go rest in a bed for awhile,” he told him. To his surprise, Raphael not only didn’t protest the use of the hated nickname but also let him pick him. More worrisome was how he clung to Alec like a koala despite the fact that there was company present. The heat radiating off his body made Alec wince, and he hurried to get him to Magnus, wanting another opinion on how much medicine to give him. 

“Bring him here,” Magnus instructed as soon as Alec stepped into the room with him. Alec carefully handed over their son into Magnus’s waiting arms. Magnus cooed over him trying to gauge just how bad off he was. 

“Hey, my little one, how are you feeling?”

“Hurts, Papa” was the whimpered reply.

“I know. We’re going to make it better.” Magnus glanced up at Alec. “We’re going to need a double dosage of the fever reducer, and we should go ahead and have everyone take another round of the general potion too.”

Alec nodded and started toward the door. A hand darted out and caught hold of his shirt before he could. “Daddy, stay.” 

Both Magnus and Alec froze. Raphael’s eyes were watering more than before as he clutched desperately to both Magnus and Alec. 

“It’s okay. Daddy’s going to be right back.” Magnus promised as soon as he recovered from the shock of hearing Raphael using such language. 

Alec gently uncurled Raphael’s hand from his shirt. “I need to go get you some things. I will be right back,” he assured. He looked to Magnus.

“Check the other three first and make sure none of them are this bad. Then bring back the potions for him.” 

Alec hated leaving Raphael in such a state, but the faster he did, the faster they could get Raphael’s fever down, and so he hurried to do as Magnus had instructed. Meanwhile, Magnus was trying very hard to hide his fear. He had never seen Raphael in such a state. Even when he woke confused from the night terrors, Raphael had never sunk into such a state. 

He kept stroking at Raphael’s curls and back and tried to ignore the way his heart felt like it was breaking with each little whimper. There was a sudden gasp and then he felt something warm on his shirt followed by more tears. 

“It’s okay,” he assured while reaching for the bin in case the accidental spit up meant that more sickness was on its way. He doubted it thought. Raphael should have had nothing left in his stomach by that point, which they would have to fix as soon as they took care of the fever.

Alec returned quickly. “The rest are fine. I got them to take their medicine, got them some drinks. I think they’re all going to nap some more. I brought more of the medicine for you too. Just in case.”

Magnus took a vial of the stuff. He was feeling almost completely cured by which was a good thing since it seemed both of them would soon be needed. Together they both fed Raphael, pausing between each round to make sure it stayed down. 

“What happened here?” Alec asked pointing at Magnus’s shirt.

“Just a little accident.”

“Let me get something for you two to change into. You shouldn’t use any more magic when you’re so close to recovery.”

“Actually, I think we need to put him in a bath for a while and see if we can reduce the fever some more. If you could hold him for awhile, I can prepare everything.”

“Not with magic?”

“I’m just going to add some herbs. It will take no magic on my part,” Magnus assured.

Alec picked up Raphael easily. Their son went back to clinging to him just as tightly as he had been clinging to Magnus. 

“It will just take a moment.”

Alec paced the room with Raphael. When Magnus poked his head from the bathroom door, he looked paler, and Alec rushed over to try to over him a supporting arm. “I thought you weren’t going to use magic.”

“I didn’t. It seems my body just isn’t used to be vertical for so long right now. Now bring him in here.” Magnus was already stripping down to his boxers when Alec stepped inside with Raphael. 

“He’s not going to like this,” Alec pointed out.

Magnus waved a hand. “He’ll be fine. Just strip him down to his underwear.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure. This is far from the first time he and I have bathed together,” Magnus revealed. 

“What? Really?”

Magnus chuckled. “Public bathing is still very common in many cultures, and Raphael likes the quiet atmosphere of bath houses. One day, I’ll take you to one,” he promised. 

Alec flushed at the idea, but then Magnus was carefully climbing into the prepared bath and reaching up to take Raphael again. They got him settled against Magnus’s chest, and Alec crouched down beside the bath to place the cold cloth Magnus had prepared against Raphael’s forehead. 

“We’ll stay in about fifteen minutes. It should be enough time for the herbs to work.”

Alec nodded but kept his eyes glued on Raphael. “Why is it affecting him so much worse than the others?”

“It’s not been that long since the rest of them experienced things like the mundane flu. Their bodies remember how to handle illness. Raphael’s does not.”

“What about you though?”

“Warlock genetics. They protect me from quite a few things.”

They went back to sitting quietly and watching Raphael. After a few minutes, his eyes started to lose their glazed look. 

“What’s happening?” he asked. 

“We’re just getting your fever down,” Magnus explained. Raphael groaned and squirmed around. “You’ve got about five more minutes in here,” Magnus told him, not realizing his grip on Raphael’s waist. Raphael grunted and leaned back. 

“Fine,” he replied, closing his eyes to try to ignore the way both of them were watching him so carefully. There was a gap in his memory between getting sick on the couch and getting into the bath, and he dreaded to think of what embarrassing things he might have done during that time. After a while, Magnus’s hold loosened. 

“Alexander,” he said softly. Raphael heard the word but still startled when hands went to grasp him under his arms. “Shhh,” Magnus soothed. “Let Daddy pick you up.”

“Daddy?” Raphael choked out the word.

“He’s not delirious anymore,” Alec pointed out as he easily lifted Raphael off Magnus and set him down on the bathroom chaise.

“Hm, seems you’re right,” Magnus murmured climbing out of the bath on his own power. Raphael shivered in the warm room, and Alec quickly wrapped one towel around him while using another to dry his arms. 

Magnus quickly changed into fresh pajamas and then moved over to the two of them. He took over helping Raphael while Alec, after studying Raphael for a moment, went to change the sheets on the bed. 

“What happened earlier?” Raphael asked.

“Your fever went up. You got sick.” Magnus explained while guiding the shirt over Raphael’s head.

“You were both acting weird though.”

Magnus sighed. “You were a little delirious for awhile.”

Raphael’s eyes widened. “What did I do? Did I hurt someone?”

“No, no,” Magnus quickly assured. “Why would you even thing that, my sweet boy?”

“What did I do to have you two looking at me like that?”

“You were just very upset and didn’t want Alec or I to leave you. That’s all.” 

“And why the ‘daddy’? I only call Alec ‘Dad’.” 

“You switched to daddy for awhile there.”

Raphael cringed in embarrassment. “And you?”

“Well, you didn’t really call me anything new, but you also were a little busy right then being sick on my shirt.”

Raphael buried his face in his hands. “Great,” he muttered. 

“Don’t worry about such things,” Magnus told him. “As much as we all love teasing each other, there is no real embarrassment between us three. Whatever you need. Whatever you do. All that stays in the confidence of this family.”

“This family is huge,” Raphael pointed out.

“Yes, but those kind of things stay within this family of three,” Magnus promised.

Alec returned to the bathroom. “The bed’s all ready,” he announced. “Do you want to try walking or-” 

Raphael looked at Magnus for a moment then back to Alec. He held up his arms. “Will you carry me please?”

“Always,” Alec assured. 

Once Magnus and Raphael were settled into bed, Alec stretched. “I better go fix dinner for everyone.”

“There are soups,” Magnus quickly pointed out. “You just have to heat them.”

“Is that a comment on my cooking abilities or concern for my having to do so much work?”

“Purely concern,” Magnus said with a grin.

“Uh-huh. Sure. What about you, baby, want me to fix you some soup and toast to go with your blood? It might help settle your stomach.”

“Cheese toast please.”

“Whatever you want.” 

The others were awake when Alec returned. Even Maia had wandered out to sit in the living room. All of them asked about Raphael and were relieved to hear he was just fine but was resting in the master bedroom still. Simon even shuffled into the kitchen to keep Alec company while he fixed the food. 

“Why are you fixing so many bowls of soup?” Simon asked. 

“Luke, Maia, Magnus, Raphael, and me.” 

“Raphael eats soup?”

“And cheese toast and a million other things.” 

Raphael’s soup bowl was also the brightest color of the bunch to remind Alec which soup he would be stirring the blood into.

“I didn’t know we could eat food food.”

“Some can. As far as I know Raphael’s always been able to eat ‘food food’ as you call it. He prefers it actually. Does it still make you sick?”

Simon shrugged. “I haven’t tried in years now.” 

“How about I fix you a very small bowl the way Raphael likes it, and you can try it out,” Alec suggested.

Simon, bouncing slightly on his feet, nodded after a moment. “Sure. Thanks.”

Dinner got passed out, and the rest of the evening went smoothly. Magnus refused to let Raphael out of his sight and practically refused to let him off of his lap. Alec could understand the feeling, and whenever he wasn’t checking on the others, he was glued to Raphael’s side as well. Raphael while no longer delirious was exhausted from the events of the day and was barely able to stay awake long enough to eat. Alec had to take over and hold the spoon and bowl until Raphael had eaten enough, and then they tucked him into the middle of the bed to sleep. 

The next fourteen hours were a blur for Raphael. He couldn’t stay awake for long, but he remembered being woken to take medicines and drink things. He finally woke again fully the next morning.

“There he is,” Magnus greeted cheerfully. He was finally over his own bout of the flu and looked much better. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” he croaked out. “How are you?”

“I’m all better. Just a little tired,” he admitted. 

“Good. But you should be careful to not relapse, Papa.” 

“Of course, my sweet one.”

Raphael scrubbed at his face. “Where’s Dad?”

“He’s making breakfast.”

Raphael listened and could hear the sounds of people talking in the rest of the apartment. He was surprised to hear Isabelle’s voice mixed among them. 

“If you’re feeling up to it, we could set you up on the couch for awhile,” Magnus suggested, and Raphael agreed. 

“I’ll get Alec then. Your dad has forbidden me from doing any kind of exertion for the next few days.”

Raphael grinned. “Are you surprised?” 

Magnus grinned back. “Just wait until you find out all the recovery rules we have for you.”

“Fantastic,” Raphael muttered. 

Alec was back in moments. He scooped Raphael up again, who was a little more reluctant to be carried in public when he wasn’t under the influence of a fever, and so when Alec carried him into the living room to get him set up on the new couch which had been set up just for him, he practically scrambled to get out of his dad’s arms as quickly as possible. 

Thankfully no one said anything about it as they were too involved in eating breakfast and arguing once more over what to watch. Alec and Magnus both settled on either side of Raphael, who should have suspected that they wouldn’t leave his side any time soon but had somehow convinced himself that that would be an exaggeration. It was not an exaggeration, and it was only the start of what was going to be three very long days. 

Again, Raphael found himself under the watchful eyes of his parents with at least one by his side at every moment. The others, of course, noticed rather quickly what was going on. Maia was too polite to make any comments except to occasionally make those faces that meant she thought the situation was sweet. Luke, as a father figure himself, only smirked at the overprotectiveness of the two. Simon, similar to Maia, thought the situation was cute, but he was a lot less subtle about it much to Raphael’s embarrassment. 

The other three recovered over the next few days until they were able to return to their own homes. All left with very new perspectives of Raphael, which he did not appreciate because no one was taking his glares seriously any longer. The three Banes were left alone once again. 

Raphael, who was nearly recovered himself, allowed himself to bask in the new quiet of the apartment. Up until Magnus and Alec looked over at him with smiles on their faces. 

“Now we can finally put one hundred percent of our attention on you,” Alec remarked sitting down on one side of Raphael.

“Yes, our sweet only child, you can now have our full attention again,” Magnus agreed taking the other side.

Raphael released a long-suffering sigh. “Great.”


	11. Prompfic: Insecure Raphael

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ThePenNeverStops a prompt that deals with them adding to their family, and Alec and Magnus making sure Raphael knows he still their son no matter what? 
> 
> This one got a bit away from me as usual. I'm planning on doing more with this topic in future fics though.

“And you were the only one who could take him?” Raphael asked in disbelief staring at the toddler waddling around the playpen that had been set up in their living room. Magnus kept one on hand for whenever clients had bring their children. Raphael had thought it disappeared whenever it wasn’t in use, but apparently he had been wrong about that. 

“No one had time to look after him at the institute,” Alec replied from the kitchen where he was putting together a snack for their visitor. Raphael really hoped he was a visitor anyway. 

“I thought you told Papa you weren’t going to be bringing home work anymore.”

Alec handed the still unnamed child a sippy cup of juice and placed a bowl of cheerios within his reach, seemingly unconcerned about the cereal being spilled. The child immediately plopped his hand in and began shoveling dry cereal into his mouth, and yeah okay that was cute. Still, why did he have to be there. Alec glanced up at Raphael.

“Is something wrong?” he asked. 

“No,” Raphael muttered. 

“Well, if you do think something is wrong, I trust that you will tell me.”

Raphael rolled his eyes. “When is Papa coming home?”

“He’s on his way now.”

Maybe he could talk some sense into him then. “I’ll be in my room,” he announced, spinning on his heel. 

“Actually, I need you to watch him for me. Just until Magnus gets here.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m needed on an investigation. It’s an emergency.” 

Raphael groaned. “Seriously? I’m really not a babysitter.”

“No, but you’re here, you’re good with children usually, and you don’t have anything scheduled today, so please.”

“Fine, but you owe me.”

“I’ll give you extra on your allowance.”

Raphael frowned. “It’s not an allowance. I’m a consultant. It’s a legitimate job.”

“Ah yes, I had forgotten that all legitimate jobs allow you to refuse to come in whenever you find the situation boring and still receive regular full pay.”

“They do when you’re the best at what you do. That’s why it’s called being on ‘retainer’’. ”

Alec grinned and rolled his eyes. “Yes yes, I’ll give you a bonus on your paycheck this week then. How’s that?”

“It’s acceptable.” 

“Thanks, sweetheart.” Alec kissed him on the cheek as he dashed past. “Everything he might need is in that bag there. Call me if you need anything.”

The toddler let out a whine as Alec started towards the door causing the shadowhunter to spin back around. He placed a kiss on the toddlers forehead. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. Raphael’s going to look after you,” he said, and the toddler laughed in delight at the attention.

Raphael was not furious at the use of his nickname for another person. Nope. He was not. Alec once again dashed for the door leaving Raphael alone with the toddler. “Don’t get comfortable,” he muttered while plopping down on a nearby sofa and crossing his arms. Logically, he knew he was being ridiculous. He was an adult. Their company was a small toddler. Alec had said nothing about the toddler staying for long. Still, he couldn’t help but feel prickly at the way his dad had looked at the toddler when he had left. Raphael knew that look well because it was just a lighter version of the one that was usually directed toward him.

He was surprised by how much it was affecting him, but if he didn’t snap out of his mood fast, then his parents would notice and never take him seriously as an adult again. He chewed on his bottom lip as he thought. Finally, he sighed and stood. “I’m only doing this to prove that I am a more responsible adult than either of them.” 

The toddler glanced up at him curiously, and Raphael shoved aside any thoughts that his parents might get attached to the child. Instead he imagined Madzie. He loved Madzie. He watched her for Catarina whenever his friend had something to do, and they always had a great time. However, Madzie was also the most pleasant child on the planet which definitely made things easier. Resigning himself to his task, he swiftly lifted the child out of the playpen and plopped him onto the living room floor. Then he fetched him some blocks. Entertaining the toddler was easy enough. Stack some blocks. Let him knock them down. Flip through a picture book. It was all simple enough. 

“Look at this cutie!” 

Raphael glanced upward at his papa. “Dad dropped him off here. Apparently, there was an emergency.” 

“He called me and filled me in. You can consider yourself freed from babysitting duties.”

Raphael slowly pulled himself up as Magnus dramatically dropped down to sit next to the child. Somehow getting what he wanted wasn’t feeling right.

“And what should we call you, my dumpling?” Magnus was cooing away at the toddler as Raphael reluctantly went into the kitchen to start dinner. Alec returned in the middle of cooking. Sweaty and with a few bruises, he still cheerfully greeted Magnus with a kiss and squatted down to coo at the toddler. 

“Did you find his parents?” Apparently Magnus had gotten a longer version of the story than Raphael had. 

Alec’s smile faded. “Demon father. Mundane mother. Neither wanted-”

Raphael’s stomach twisted. Magnus made a hurt noise, but it was sudden and brief. Raphael knew without looking that Magnus had already pasted on a fake smile. 

“Do we have a name then?”

“Yes, his name is Leo.” 

“So, little sweetling Leo, it looks like you’ll be staying with us.” 

Raphael startled at the announcement, missing the onion he was chopping and instead slicing into his hand. He swore and dropped the blade. Within seconds, two people were rushing into the room. He was a little embarrassed at how pleased he was that neither of them had hesitated to stay with the toddler even for such a mundane incident. 

Both Alec and Magnus were studying the scene, and both quickly sighed in relief. “Let me see,” Magnus said reaching for Raphael’s hand. The wound was already quickly healing, but Raphael still let him take a look. Meanwhile Alec was busy cleaning off the cutting board and blade and cutting a new onion for him. 

Magnus glanced over the wound to make sure it was healing normally then motioned for Raphael to clean it off. “What happened?”

“Nothing. Just slipped,” he replied.

Magnus started to say more, but a cry from the living room pulled his attention away. He and Alec both ran to check on the toddler leaving Raphael alone in the kitchen once more. Whatever had happened, it hadn’t been serious as the toddler was brought to the table when it was time for dinner. Magnus even produced a high chair for him and then kept trying to find different foods the child would like to the point that he barely touched his own meal. 

When the fifth food Magnus conjured up still didn’t seem to appeal to the child, Alec spoke up. “Maybe he’s just not hungry. He did eat a lot of cereal earlier.”

Magnus frowned but finally started picking at his own food. “Does he look flushed to you?”

“Actually now that you mention it…”

Raphael resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The child was fine. He could tell just by glancing at him. Sick children were either fussy or sleepy. They weren’t energetically banging out a song with their spoon in a way that caused Raphael’s head to pound. Yet both Magnus and Alec kept fawning over the guest. Raphael quickly finished his own meal. 

“I’m going to bed.” 

“It’s early,” Magnus pointed out. “Are you sick?”

“I’m fine. I have some stuff I want to work on where it’s quiet.”

Magnus and Alec exchanged one of those brief looks of theirs but then the toddler cried out. “Okay then. We’ll see you in the morning,” Magnus said.

“Rest well,” Alec added. 

Raphael briefly kissed them both of the cheek then disappeared into his room. He wished the whole time that his own room was soundproof. He could hear the toddler’s babbling voice and both Magnus and Alec playing games with the child. Unfortunately, the only soundproof room in the house was still the master bed and bath and those were only one way sound-proof. Magnus had said it was for safety purposes which Raphael had translated to his being overly paranoid about not being able to hear if Raphael should happen to call out for one of them. 

He still kept to his room finishing up some work he had been doing for the institute. That barely took any time and he found himself flipping through some books. He even listened to some songs Simon had asked for his opinion on and wrote down actual detailed notes on each one. He went to sleep late and hoped that by the time he woke that the whole house-guest thing would have been sorted. 

The next day though nothing had changed. Both Magnus and Alec had taken the day off and were already up and tending to Leo. Raphael found himself growing annoyed at the sight and kept leaving to run errands. Eventually after dinner when he had barely managed to get two whole sentences out of either one of them without an interruption, he just gave up. 

“I’m going out,” he announced. 

Magnus and Alec nodded absently as Raphael left the table. Neither called after him a reminder to call if he would be late or asked where he was going. Raphael tried to remind himself that it was because it was still early, but it didn’t stop him from feeling annoying. He wandered around the city looking for something to do and ended up at Pandemonium of all places. Once there he used his connections to secure a private room to tuck himself away in and sit with a drink. Time passed quickly, and he didn’t move. He was too lost in his thoughts. He barely noticed when he suddenly had company.

“What’s up, Buttercup?” Lily’s voice was cheerful as usual, and Raphael cringed. Of all the people to find him, it would be one of the ones best at reading him. 

“Just enjoying a night out.”

“No, you’re not. You’re brooding. So tell me what’s got you acting like more of a bluenose than usual.”

“Besides the fact that you keep trying to bring ridiculous slang terms back?”

Lily laughed and took a sip of her own drink. “Now, thundercloud, you should be nice to your best friend. Tell me what’s happening, and I’ll fix everything.”

Raphael thought over the evening. “It’s nothing. I’m just being difficult about a trivial issue.”

“It seems like it’s more than a trivial issue. You hate coming here even when we drag you, and yet here you are on your own accord. Whatever it is, it must be serious.”

“It’s childish.” Raphael admitted, practically spitting out the words. 

“Give me the details, and I’ll decide if it’s childish.”

Raphael toyed with his nearly empty glass. He’d had some plasma added with the alcohol, but he was barely feeling the effects. Lily noticed. 

“How’s this? I’ll order us some rounds. We’ll get completely zozzled and complain about our weeks, and then everything will stay between us.”

Raphael smirked. “Fine,” he agreed.

For the first three rounds, it was Lily who did all the complaining. She’d had a new boyfriend for awhile, but apparently he wasn’t keen on the whole pansexual aspect. Vampire he could accept, but a sexuality other than hetero was too difficult for him to grasp. 

“He kept saying he was fine with it, but then I’d catch him glaring whenever I sat next to basically anyone,” Lily was saying. 

“It was like going back in time. I thought people would be over such things by now.”

Raphael murmured an agreement. He could understand her frustration. By round five, she was insisting he talk. 

“Is it a relationship thing?” 

Raphael shook his head. “Not in that sense.” His drunken state had him feeling like he was justified in his wallowing, and so after a moment, he poured out the whole story. 

“And it’s not like we haven’t talked about this before, but it’s just-”

“You weren’t expecting it yet,” Lily supplied twirling the straw in her cocktail. 

“Maybe I was,” Raphael admitted. “They’ve been babysitting Annabeth for Jace and Clary. Madzie’s over at our place regularly. You should see how they just light up whenever one of them is over.” 

Lily scoffed. “You should see how they look at you when you’re not even doing anything.’

Raphael groaned. “We’re not talking about me right now. We’re talking about them, and they deserve a chance with a real child. They should get to plan a nursery and document first steps and first words and everything that goes along with that.”

“And why couldn’t they do that with you there? It would be an addition to the family. You would have a sibling is all. Lots of people do.”

Raphael shook his head. “It’s not that simple.”

“But it is!” Lily insisted.

“No, as long as I’m there. As long as I’m still-” he motioned to himself unable to find the right word. Ever sense he had come “back from the dead” as everyone still referred to it, there had been something off. Years before, Magnus had warned him that that being immortal meant aging strangely and that it was easy to revert to the same mentality a person was when they first froze in age. Somehow Raphael felt even younger. Maybe it was because he remembered what it was like to feel thirty and fifty and seventy that suddenly fifteen felt overwhelming. He had forgotten how difficult that period was. 

“There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“Then I should move out. I should get a place of my own and act like a typical adult, who just visits his parents on occasion.”

Lily rolled her eyes. Even if you were to feel that it was time for you to move out again, which I personally don’t think it is, then you would just have to move into the hotel with us. Our kind does not do well when we are alone,” she reminded him.

“Maybe I should.”

“As much as I miss having you for a roommate, I don’t think the hotel is where you’re meant to be right now. Besides, the rule is no making major decisions while drinking,” Lily chided. “At least not until you sober up and rethink things.”

Raphael muttered something and started to put his head on the table. “Oh, no you don’t,” Lily protested. “Come along. Let’s get you home.”

“I don’t want to go home right now.”

“Fine. Let’s get you to the hotel. We can have a slumber party.”

They stumbled out of the club together and to the hotel. The short walk worked wonders to sober them just enough to decide that having a few more rounds at home was a good idea. The rounds at home led to more wallowing until eventually both of them passed out in Lily’s room. They slept very much like the dead that they were until Lily’s alarm went off. 

“What time is it?”

“Ten,” Lily mumbled into her pillow.

“Is it really that early? We still have the whole night left.” 

“It’s ten in the morning,” she clarified. 

Raphael swore and sat up. He scrambled for his phone expecting numerous missed calls and texts. He was certain the only reason there had been no portaling was because Magnus would have tracked him to Lily’s and assumed he was fine. There was nothing. Not a single call or text greeted him. 

“How much trouble are you in?” Lily teased trying to look over his shoulder. 

“None,” he muttered. “I’m hungry. Let’s get something to eat.”

“Rapha-”

“Not now.”

Lily sighed. “How about some Bloody Marys for breakfast?”

“How is that breakfast?”

“I’ll make sure they’re actually bloody.”

Bloody Marys led to a boozy lunch and by afternoon, Raphael could feel some guilt sinking in. More than that though, he found himself growing angry. All their promises suddenly felt like empty words, and he could tell he was being even more of a“bluenose” as Lily had called. Even she was getting tired of his grumpiness, though he could tell she was worried. 

“They probably know you’re with me and just don’t want to interrupt you. They don’t want to be suffocating.”

“That’d be a first. They just haven’t noticed is all.”

“Okay, no more.” Lily snatched his glass from his hand. “You need to go home and deal with this. Sitting here and drinking is accomplishing nothing.”

“You’re impatient for someone who has all the time in the world.”

“Come on,” she tugged him to his feet. “I’m going to walk you home, and you’re going to deal with this.” 

And that was exactly what she did. She walked him straight into the Lightwood-Bane apartment, dragging him along by the hand as if leading a lost child back home. She stormed right into the apartment startling both Magnus and Alec in the process. 

“You have upset him. Now you three are going to sit and talk this out until it’s all settled.”

“Raphael, darling, what’s going on?” Magnus asked. He had Leo on his lap, and Alec was seated next to them trying to get Leo to eat some fruit.

Raphael fidgeted under the concerned looks both of them sent his way. He felt like a jerk suddenly for ever doubting them though the alcohol in his system was still causing him to feel betrayed. 

“Just tell them how you feel, so it can all be fixed,” Lily whispered in his ear. “If you still need a place to stay, you know where my room is, but give them a chance.” She kissed him on the cheek then turned to leave, tossing farewells over her shoulder as she did. 

 

Both Magnus and Alec kept their eyes on him, waiting for him to explain. “I think maybe it’s time I moved back to the hotel,” Raphael whispered.

“What? Why?” Magnus exclaimed. 

“Sweetheart,” Alec was getting off the couch and moving towards him slowly as if afraid he would bolt. 

Raphael’s gaze fell on Leo. “I was out all night and today.”

“Yes?”

“I didn’t text after two, and no one called,” he really hated the way his voice broke at the end of his sentence.

Alec was quick to catch on to what he meant. “Oh, Baby, we’re so sorry. We had fallen asleep.” 

“As soon as we woke up, I traced you to Lily’s, but it was six in the morning, and we didn’t want to risk waking you,” Magnus added. 

“I thought you forgot me.”

Alec had already gotten to him, pulling him into a hug, and Magnus was putting Leo onto the floor to do the same. They got him over to the couch and squeezed him between them. 

“Now why on earth would you think we had forgotten about you?” Magnus asked. 

“I barely could get you two to speak to me since he got here,” Raphael muttered. 

“So you went and had drinks with Lily?” Alec asked. 

“Yes,” Raphael admitted, expecting a scolding. Instead, Alec just rubbed his shoulder. 

“I bet that made everything feel worse.” 

He had forgotten that Alec also had very recently in his life made similar decisions regarding alcohol and wallowing, and unlike Magnus, who had been drinking for long enough to know how much would cheer him up and how much would make him depressed, both Alec and Raphael tended to just expand whatever emotions they were already feeling.

“I shouldn’t be angry or sad though. It’s not like it’s even official that Leo’s going to be here permanently, and even if he is, you two should get to have a baby. I even said I would be okay with you two adopting another child, but it just feels like I’m getting in the way.”

“Never. It’s like we’ve talked about. You will never be in the way,” Magnus assured. “If you feel that it’s time for you to move out because you’re ready to be out then I will accept that, but I must selfishly admit that I am not ready to let you, and I don’t think I will be for many more years.”

“I don’t even care if you are ready,” Alec chimed in. “I’m definitely not ready for you to move out yet.”

“But a baby-”

“Is another child in this family. There can be more than one. It doesn’t mean there’s not still room for you.” Alec had the speech down. He had heard it several times himself with the addition of each of his new siblings, and he had even had to give it to his own siblings.

“It felt like there wasn’t room for me.”

Magnus inhaled sharply. “And we are so sorry about that. We were both working so hard on trying to find out if Leo had any other relatives and making sure that he was settled, that we didn’t pay you enough attention. I promise that that will never happen again.”

“I shouldn’t get so upset so easily.”

Magnus rolled his eyes. “Emotions are things you feel and which should not be denied. You must remember that and stop feeling guilty for yours. Do you understand?”

Raphael nodded. 

“Good. Now let’s get some non-alcoholic liquids into you before we discuss this any further.”

“Is he going to stay?” Raphael asked with a glance over at where Leo was playing in his playpen.

“Well, we still need to see if he has any other relatives first, but then the three of us will make an official decision on that together.”

Raphael stood up and walked over to Leo. He knelt down next to the boy. Leo laughed in delight, smiling brightly and reaching up to him with grabby hands. Raphael gave him and allowed the toddler to hug him. “I think that maybe this can work.”


	12. At the club

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raphael finds a friend to "flirt" with, and Mangus and Alec are suspicious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for this being so late. I graduated from my program this week and didn't realize that I had so many functions to go to until the last minute. I did want to do more with the chapter initially, but it just didn't seem to want to be written. I promise a much better chapter next.

Raphael was mentally sorting through just how he had been talked into yet another night at the club. Oh yeah, it had started with a bet about how long he could last at the club and if he lost he had to let Magnus pick his outfits out for a week. He could only imagine the sequined and neon monstrosities that would await him if that happened.

Alec and Magnus were seated on the center couch as if they were kings on their throne overseeing their court. They were surrounded by a group of their more casual friends, who all seemed coupled off for the night. Not interested in sitting in the middle of what was quickly becoming a rather intense make-out session. Earlier they had at least both been networking with their surrounding crowd. Raphael, who was holding his own court a little ways off on a matching couch, had been doing a bit of networking of his own, trying to get familiar with more people in order to better perform his consultant role. He at least already knew some of their names. They all knew Magnus. The only way up into the area was to be on the list, and the only way to get onto the list was to be trusted enough by Magnus. That meant Raphael trusted that whoever the people were surrounding him, they were all decent enough. 

The networking hadn’t lasted quite long enough, and then nearly everyone had hit the dance floor. Raphael had been more than content to linger behind and enjoy some peace and quiet. Then his parents had returned. They were both a mess. For powerful people who worked out regularly for the most part, they returned from the dance floor sweaty and winded. 

“You’re both getting old,” Raphael commented with amusement.   
“Is that so?” Magnus’s smirk told Raphael that he was very much going to regret making such a comment, and then Magnus was launching himself at Alec. Raphael sipped at his plasma and very much tried to ignore the fact that his parents were making out like teenagers only a few feet away just to prove that they were still “youthful”. He also really wished they both had hearing as good as his own because he had quite a few insults he wanted to hiss their way without anyone else hearing. Dios, they were both so embarrassing sometimes. 

Just as he was considering using bleach to erase the images of the two of them frenching in public out of his head, a new face plopped down beside him on the couch.“You must be Raphael.”

Raphael glanced over the warlock next to him. He looked around eighteen, but Raphael could only guess at his true age.

“And you are?” 

“Minjae.”

The name didn’t sound familiar. “Have you known Magnus long?” That was usually an effective way of guessing about how old someone was in their world.

Minjae seemed to know what he was getting at. “I met Magnus in nineteen twenty-two. I was only twenty at the time, and I basically idolized him. I’m a little embarrassed remembering it actually.I was so nervous all I could do was stumble over all my words. Though if there was any warlock to look up, it would have to be Magnus.”

Raphael was both secretly pleased by the acknowledgment of just how impressive his papa was and also driven to make one of his usual remarks about how ridiculous the man could be at times. He settled for smirking and taking another sip of his drink, letting Minjae read the action for what it was. 

“It must be interesting, being his son.”

“You know about that?”

“Almost everyone knows about that and about Alec’s relationship with the two of you.”

“And what exactly does everyone know about that?”

Minjae shrugged. “Just that you’re somehow impressive enough out of all of us downworlders that Magnus claimed you as his own son and that means that you’re under his protection, and since you’re also Alec’s son you’re under the protection of the shadowhunters.”

That was better than some things they could be thinking about him. 

“But I heard you have an impressive reputation of your own as well,” Minjae continued. 

“Then I think you’re ahead of me in this game. I’ve not heard anything about you.”

“Well, some of us have to be the background characters, though I do admit there are some bonuses to it. Mainly the not almost dying every other week thing.”

Raphael, to his own surprise, found himself smiling at that. “What is that like?”

“Well, let me tell you.”

They continued talking and drinking. Raphael, head spinning in a pleasant sensation from the plasma found himself actually laughing at some of the jokes. His eyes wandered to Minjae’s lips. He had never liked kissing. He felt no sexual attraction. Sometimes though he still found himself wanting to press his lips against someone else’s. Just the quickest impact and in as innocent of a manner as a quick peck on the cheek. 

Eventually, the talking did become borderline flirting. Minjae leaned in closer, and Raphael prepared to break the news to him that nothing was going to happen.

“Your parents are looking this way.” 

Okay. That was a new one. Raphael twisted around to glance in that direction. Both Alec and Magnus were staring at him in confusion, and as soon as they caught him glancing back, Magnus stood and made his way over.

Raphael waited for him to reach them. Magnus glanced over Minjae. “Hello, Minjae.”

“Hi, Magnus-”

That was as far as Minjae got before Magnus was turning his back to instead look at Raphael. “So darling, we were just discussing calling it a night. Are you ready to go?” he asked. 

“And lose the bet?”

“Oh, forget about that bet.”

Raphael knew exactly what Magnus was doing, and he decided to torture him a little. Just to get even for having to watch his parents be all gross together. “No, I don’t think I will. Besides, I’m having fun. Go on ahead without me if you want.”

“No, no, we’ll stay. We’ll be right over here.”

Magnus slowly glided back to his seat, casting curious glances at them as he did. When he got back, he and Alec began whispering to each other. 

“I didn’t think they would be the overprotective types,” Minjae admitted. “Is it more than just titles then?”

Raphael sighed. “Yeah, it is.” There was no point denying it, and it wasn’t that Raphael was ashamed of it. He just couldn’t see how anyone else would understand. 

“That must be nice actually, to have an immortal family when you’re an immortal yourself.”

“It is though I could do without some of the embarrassment they cause me.” 

Minjae made a noise of consideration. “Well, I can’t help you experience less embarrassment, but maybe I could help you have some fun with them?”

Raphael was tempted. “What kind of fun?”

“You saw how he reacted just now. What if we play up things more?”

“As long as you know you won’t be getting anything from it. I’m asexual.”

“Ah really? That’s cool. I’m demisexual. It’ll be easy to pretend. What do you say?”

Raphael thought it over. “Yes, let’s laugh at them this time.” 

“Turn your head. Just slightly.”

Raphael did, and Minjae leaned forward again. All he did was continue their conversation by whispering in Raphael’s ear. He placed both hands on Raphael’s shoulders but kept his grip loose enough that Raphael could have barely shrugged and managed to break the hold. “Now from their angle, it looks like I’m kissing you.”

“And what are they doing?” 

“They’re both staring at us. Oh, and now Alec is heading for us.”

They waited until Alec was almost upon them before jumping apart. Alec glared down at Minjae. “Raphael,” he said never taking his eyes off Minjae. “Sweetheart, are you sure you don’t want to go home? I know how you don’t like these things.”

“I’m fine,” he assured. “I’d like to stay until the end of our bet.”

Alec turned his gaze to his son. “You’re certain?”

“Positive.”

“Well, why don’t you come sit with us?”

Raphael frowned. “I don’t want to watch you two make out.”

“We’ll be totally hands off each other for the remainder of the time.” He could claim that all he wanted, but Raphael knew there was only one way for that to happen, and it was if he kept them distracted with his game.

“You would just be bored then, go enjoy your night out,” Raphael gave a little shooing motion with his hand, and Alec dumbfounded walked off. 

It kept happening. Each time it became slightly more ridiculous. Minjae was telling Raphael about his siblings when Magnus happened to “trip” and fall on the couch between them. “Sorry about that.”

“Are you so old you can no longer handle your drinks any longer?”

Magnus’s lips pursed. “My oh so witty son,” he remarked and pinched Raphael’s cheeks. 

Raphael slapped his hands away. “Hurry back to Dad. I bet he’s missing you already.”

The next time it was Alec. He planted both hands on the back of the couch and leaned just slightly over them. “You haven’t happened to see any arrow around here somewhere, have you? I was just checking over the weapons I brought with me. The ones that are right next to me over there, and I realized I might be missing one. However, I brought so many arrows with me it’s difficult to say for certain.” 

“Nope, haven’t seen any,” Raphael replied. 

Minjae just shook his head. When Alec was out of earshot again, he leaned forward. “Do you think they realize how bad of actors they are?”

“You should seem them trying to distract people. It’s like watching a comedy sketch. Are you sure you want to continue this game? It is you that they’re threatening.”

“Oh, pshh. It’s fun. What can we do next?”

At one point, Minjae even convinced him out onto the dance floor, and Raphael found himself having more fun than just playing a joke on his dads. He was actually enjoying his time with Minjae. Of course, right as he was realizing that, Magnus happened to decide to interfere once more. 

“Okay, Minjae, I don’t know what kind of joke this is, but using magic on my son is not acceptable.” 

Fun time was over. 

“Papa, relax. He’s not using magic on me. We were just having some fun.”

“That’s exactly what someone under a spell would say.”

Minjae held up his hands. “Look, Magnus, you know me. I would never do such a thing.”

“He’s dancing and laughing in public. Obvious signs of a spell.”

Raphael rolled his eyes. “Or maybe I was just having a good time.”

Magnus stared him down. “Really?”

“But you two were kissing,” Alec said coming up behind Magnus. “You don’t do that.”

“We weren’t kissing. We were leaning together so that we could talk without shouting over the noise, and if we happened to angle ourselves in such a way…” he trailed off letting them come to their own conclusions. 

“You’ve been playing us!” Magnus exclaimed.

“Yes, I have, and if you’ve not noticed, I have won the bet, and you two have been so busy trying to hover over me that you haven’t had a single chance to make out since that one time. It was a win-win.”

“How is that a win-win?”

“Oh, my bad. I should have been more clear. It’s a win-win for only me. A double win if you will. It’s a lose-lose for you two.” 

“That’s mean,” Magnus pouted.

“It’s genius,” Alec admitted.

Magnus groaned. “Well, if you’re done torturing me, I was just about to suggest we call it a night and head home.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll see you tomorrow, Minjae,” Raphael called over his shoulder as he followed his parents out.

“What?!?” Both dads exclaimed.

“Oh yeah, we’re going midnight bowling tomorrow. And no parents are allowed.” Their complaints all the way home were music to his ears.


	13. Sleeping Beauty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A young warlock tries to cast a powerful spell and endangers the whole city in the process.
> 
>  
> 
> (inspired by Sleeping Beauty and also by Doctor Who ;) )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was not the chapter I meant to add this week, but due to computer problems and moving problems, this is what I decided to post. The other chapters will be posted according to when I feel they are ready. 
> 
> Also, thank you to all the people who sent me prompts! I'm working on them now!

“What’s this?” Alec asked holding up a book that had seemingly found its own way to their coffee table.

Magnus glanced over. “That is an old legend actually about the Great One, an ancient warlock who sacrificed so much to save this world that he fell under a sleeping curse.”

“And what happened to him?”

“Well, when the book was written he was still under the curse. According to the story, he will wake one day. In the meantime, his body has been hidden away, and a fierce warrior stands guard to kill any who dare to threaten him.”

“Is the legend true?”

Magnus shrugged. “As far as I know, to most people, it’s just a bedtime story to inspire all the little warlocks in the world. There are very few warlocks with the power to do what the legend says this one did, but it’s always a possibility. Did you get that from Raphael’s room by chance?”

“No, why?”

“It was always one of his favorites,” Magnus explained. “Well, he probably left it out sometime last night. Just leave it there for now. I’m sure he’ll want it when he wakes up.”

Alec started to place it back on the table but paused. “Do you think he will mind if I flipped through it?”

“Only if you don’t read it aloud while you’re at it,” Raphael muttered while stumbling into the living room. His eyes were still half-closed, and he had to pause to yawn at one point before finishing his walk to the couch. It was already an hour past when he usually woke, and he still looked exhausted.

“What time did you go to bed?” 

“Seven-ish?” Raphael tried. 

Magnus frowned. “Are you having nightmares again?” 

Raphael shook his head. “Not last night,” he promised. “I just-lost track of time.” Alec settled on the couch and held out one arm letting Raphael fall onto him. “Do you actually have the weekend off?”

“I always have the weekend off,” Alec reminded him. 

“Really? So that wasn’t you rushing out of our apartment last Saturday to deal with an ‘emergency’ that turned out to just be one of the newbies accidentally locking himself into a holding cell?”

“He’s got you there,” Magnus pointed out from where he was holding up fabric samples. 

“Well, I promise I will try to stay far away from shadowhunter business all weekend,” Alec said. “I will only leave the apartment for a true emergency.”

“Don’t jinx us,” Raphael murmured and snuggled deeper into his hold. 

“Are you sure you’re alright? Not sick or anything?” Alec asked. Magnus was also watching Raphael carefully.

“I’m fine. Something just feels off. It’s probably because I didn’t sleep well.”

Magnus made a low noise and stepped over to them. He ran a hand through Raphael’s hair and then pressed a kiss to his temple. “Maybe. Well, we’ll handle whatever it is either way. Why don’t you get some more sleep? We can just order in our brunch today whenever you feel up to eating.”

“I’m fine. I’m comfortable here, and I want to hear the story. It’s been months since I’ve seen that book. Where did you find it?”

“It was here.” Alec glanced at Magnus. “Could the apartment have found it?”

“It’s possible,” he replied. He left unspoken the fact that the apartment only acted on its own in the most important circumstances, such as providing a room for someone in need. It didn’t tend to find lost objects randomly. At least it never did for him. He had noticed that the apartment seemed a bit more helpful to Alec and, of course, if that was the case the apartment would be even indulging of Raphael. Deciding to accept that as the cause, Magnus brushed off any negative thoughts and instead turned his focus back to his current task. 

Alec began to read the book. Raphael sleepily added commentary as the went through the story. Magnus continued his task of trying to decide just how to redecorate their apartment and occasionally teased Raphael about his obsession with the story. Eventually, with the book finished, they were about to order in their food when the door to their apartment slammed open. Jace, Isabelle, Clary, and Simon raced inside their apartment, and Alec nearly dropped the book he had been about to place down as Raphael used his speed to jump away. Apparently, it wasn’t cool to be caught having story-time. 

“What’s happened?” Alec asked, immediately getting to the point. Raphael was watching them warily, and Magnus’s hands were already glowing in anticipation of a fight. 

“More like who’s in trouble today?” Raphael remarked.

“There’s a rogue warlock,” Jace tried to explain. 

“He’s-he’s doing something strange-something-” Simon flailed as he tried to find the words. 

“Haven’t you guys noticed anything off?” Isabelle asked. 

“I just thought I was lost in thought,” Magnus said.

“I’m still half-asleep,” Raphael admitted.

Alec shrugged. “It’s rather early for anyone in this apartment to be noticing things.”

The others stared at them in shock. “Really?” Clary raised an eyebrow. “None of you have noticed the huge barrier surrounding the city?”

Raphael, who had taken a moment to zip in and out of his room to change out of his pajamas, froze by a window and glanced out. “Oh yeah, now I see it,” he said. 

“Okay, so there’s a barrier. Can anyone give any more specifics on what this warlock is doing?” Magnus asked.

“There are time gaps happening. People are losing spans of about five to ten minutes at a time.”

“A warlock is trying to do a large scale time portal. If he is successful, he could do massive damage by altering one single point in time,” Magnus explained.

“And what can we do?” Alec asked.

“Find him and stop him. That’s it. I’ll try tracing the magic. The rest of you get together a plan of attack in case negotiations don’t work.”

Catarina portaled in before they could move. “Oh good. You’re all here. I assume you noticed the barrier surrounding our city.”

“I was just about to track down the warlock,” Magnus added.

“No need. I already have. Come along. The only sitter I can get on weekend mornings likes to price gouge me, and I already experience enough guilt having to leave my daughter with her during my days off as it is. Let’s take care of this situation quickly.”

“Catarina-”

“Oh don’t even. You know you need my help for his.”

“You’re right.”

“Then let’s go,” she said and opened the portals for them. 

“Well, this is typical,” Magnus remarked dryly taking in the appearance of the place. 

“Get out!” the warlock roared staring at Magnus and Alec who had landed in front of him. He was young, too young to have even stopped his physical aging, and he was dangerously powerful. Magnus recognized him immediately, not from looks but from reputation. Domitian: another son of a prince of hell. 

Magnus held up his hands. “We’re only here because what you’re doing is extremely dangerous.” 

Domitian laughed darkly. “Don’t you think I know that. Sacrifices must be made sometimes.” 

“Just tell us what you’re trying to do, and maybe we can find a better way.”

“There is no better way.”

Magnus could see the rest of their group was creeping toward the barrier Domitian had secured around himself. “Tell us at least what you’re willing to sacrifice everything for?”

Domitian’s eyes were red-rimmed. His hands were shaking as he clutched at the amulet he was using for the spell. “I will go back to the day he first was born, and I will stop it.”

“When who was born?”

“My father.”

Magnus could understand the feeling. He really could, but what Domitian wanted to do was impossible, and even if it wasn’t, it would destroy everything. 

“You would completely alter everything about our world.”

“For the better.”

“Not necessarily. Please, I know it’s hard, but-”

“Don’t try to bond with me,” Domitian snarled. “Just because we have similar lineages, Magnus Bane, does not mean that we actually understand each other. Now, take your friends here, including the ones trying to sneak up on me and get out of the city. Perhaps you’ll be safe then. I’ve modified the spell to only affect what happens within the boundary, and this city is the smallest I could get it. It’s the smallest place I will risk.” 

“Domitian, this spell requires a fixed point to remain…a fixed person.”

“I have taken that into account,” Domitian replied. “I will sacrifice myself as well. Now leave!”

“We can’t leave,” Alec murmured. “We can’t risk this city.” 

‘I know,” Magnus replied. “I’ll break the barrier, and then we can attack.” Raphael and Simon, who had overheard, both nodded and passed on the message to the others.

Magnus began chanting while the others readied themselves for a fight. Domitian screamed. “I gave you all a chance!” Then he began his own chanting. 

Domitian was powerful and his emotions only fueled that natural power further. He had already gotten too far into the spell too. Magnus knew he stood little chance of breaking the spell the boy had cast, but it didn’t stop him from trying. He felt Catarina’s magic combine with his own, but even with her, they were not prepared for the kind of spell Domitian was summoning. 

Around him, Magnus could hear the others screaming. His own body felt as if it were being ripped to pieces. Every cell in his body felt as if it were on fire. Then everything went quiet. When he could concentrate, he saw Isabelle and Clary clutching at each other while Jace hovered over them both with Simon grasping onto his arm. A few feet away from them, Catarina stood holding tightly to Raphael. Both of them were looking each other over with concern. Alec was, of course, right beside him. He could feel him there without looking. The warehouse was gone, and instead they were in a vacant field. 

“Everyone is fine,” Alec whispered. “We can fix this, and we can-”

“We’re in the wrong time.” It was Raphael, who had spoken up. Raphael, who had read enough of Magnus’s books, was the only other person besides the warlocks who knew just how serious the situation was. 

Domitian sat between them laughing hysterically. “I did it! I did it!” he screamed, but something was wrong. 

“The person who casts the spell cannot be the fixed point,” Magnus murmured. “The spell requires two warlocks to perform it correctly.”

The amulet dropped from Domitian’s hands. “Papa, it’s the one from the story,” Raphael whispered.

“It is,” Magnus confirmed. 

Domitian’s body was disintegrating right before their eyes. The boy screamed in agony as the spell devoured him leaving no trace of him behind except for the amulet and a scorch mark on the ground. 

“Poor boy,” Magnus murmured, but no one had any time to mourn as the amulet began to glow. 

“Magnus!” 

Magnus snatched the amulet up. “It’s going to pull the rest of the city in unless we stop it.”

“And how do we do that?” Alec asked. 

Magnus was busy staring at Catarina. Both of them knew what had to be done, but neither of them wanted to admit it. 

“The spell has to be cast again and correctly,” Magnus finally replied and slowly slipped the amulet around his neck. 

“No, Magnus,” Catarina protested. 

“It has to be done this way. You know it does. You cast. I’ll fix,” he turned to Alec. “I am so sorry, my love. I didn’t know the story was-I never would have guessed.”

Alec had connected the dots himself. His eyes were glistening. “I already know my role.” 

“You don’t have to-”

“There is no way I would play any other part.”

“Papa, Dad?” Raphael was glancing at them with wide eyes. 

“You must hate to find to out that I’m the hero of your favorite story,” Magnus teased with a watery smile.

“No, no, no,” Raphael insisted. “The story is not about the two of you.”

“I’m sorry, my darling boy, but I promise you will see me soon,” he had just enough time to embrace Raphael before the barrier began shimmering again. “Alexander,-”

Alec stepped over and wrapped his arms around Raphael to prevent him from interfering and also to offer the both of them comfort as they watch Magnus take a spot in the middle of the barrier. “He’s fine. He will be just fine,” Alec whispered into Raphael’s hair. 

Catarina and Magnus locked eyes. The barrier began to shimmer, and Magnus slowly slumped down to the ground as he fell into a deep sleep. Catarina began chanting. Despite the wavering in her tone, the words continued in a steady pattern. Then the barrier was up, and Catarina paused, breathing heavily. 

“The first part is complete,” she announced. “Magnus has become the fixed source for the amulet.”

“And it will remain that way until-”

“The seal will not reopen for a thousand years,” Catarina confirmed. 

Alec swallowed thickly. “Will the spell still work?”

“Yes, we have enough power left to return to the future, but that will be our only trip.”

“I don’t understand. What’s happening?” Clary asked.

“We have to leave Magnus behind,” Jace said. His hands were clenched into fists, but there was nothing to fight in such a situation. 

“To us, it will feel like we never left him,” Catarina tried to soothe. “He’ll be there in the future, and we’ll be able to free him. It’ll be mere moments for us.”

“But a thousand years for him,” Raphael reminded them. 

Catarina tugged at her hair then sighed. “He won’t remember any of it. It’s like he’s asleep.”

“Sleeping beauty. I always hated that story,” Clary remarked mainly to herself.

“But he’ll be unprotected for all that time,” Alec said. “Anything could happen to him unless someone remains to protect him.”

“Big brother, whatever you’re thinking-” Isabelle started to say, but Jace was watching him knowingly.

“He has to stay here too.” He could feel what his parabatai was feeling, and he knew there was no one they could convince him to do the return trip with him. Jace knew if it were Clary in Magnus’s place and he were the immortal one, he would do the same. 

“It will be one thousand years for you. You’ll be alone that whole time,” Catarina warned him. “And even after the rest of us are born, you cannot run into us until after the exact moment we traveled back here.”

“I understand what it is that I’m doing. I have read my own story.”

“I’ll stay too. I’m just as immortal as you.” Raphael insisted. “And then both of us can watch over him.” 

Alec quietly cast a glance at Jace, and his parabatai nodded that he had received the message. “Let’s get the spell going then,” he said.

Catarina started up the spell. The portal appeared in a swirling mass, and Alec watched as each of his family and friends stepped through. When Jace had stepped through, lingering just on the edge of the portal’s border, Alec reached for Raphael. He pulled him into a quick hug and kissed him on the forehead. “Forgive me,” he whispered.

Raphael stiffened in his arms. “Dad,-”

“I’ll see you in a few minutes,” Alec promised, and then he shoved Raphael through the portal and into Jace’s waiting arms. He watched as Jace dragged a kicking and screaming Raphael through to the future, and then he turned to Catarina.

“I’ll see you in a thousand years,” he said as cheerfully as he could manage.

She nodded approvingly. “Keep yourself safe too,” she reminded him. “Magnus did pick the best one this time,” she added. Then she disappeared through the portal, and Alec was left alone staring at his frozen husband. 

“Well, my love. Let’s get you somewhere safe.”

One thousand years. He had always wondered what immortality was like, and now he knew. Each day he stayed with Magnus knowing that he would not wake until the right time but somehow still hoping. He still watched for even a hint of movement. Any sign that he might wake. He thought about Raphael and hoped that he would forgive him. Perhaps he had made the wrong choice, but there were too many unknowns. He had been unwilling to risk Magnus waking up to possibly find both his husband and son gone, and Raphael was safer going straight back to their own time with his aunts and uncle looking after him. While he felt guilty for forcing Raphael into the decision, he knew he had been right to do it. The dangers had come: one after another. He had fought off many who had heard the legend of the sleeping warlock. Over the thousand years, he had also had some good experiences. He had seen and learned things, and though he was tempted to search out young Magnus in the 1600s and nearly desperate to catch glimpses of an actual fifteen-year-old Raphael in the 1950s, he managed to resist both times. 

Then the day finally arrived. After one thousand years, Alec finally was not alone. The amulet stopped glowing, and Magnus began to stir. “Alexander-”

“I’m here. I’m here,” he clutched at Magnus’s hand. 

“I’m so sorry I left you alone for so long. Thank you for protecting me.”

Alec sobbed into Magnus’s chest. “I missed you. I missed you so much.”

“My dear sweet Alexander, I will never leave you like that again.”

They clung to each other for several moments, unwilling to be separated for a moment. Then once they had calmed a bit, Magnus asked about the others. “Raphael?”

“I forced him through the portal.”

“The rest?”

“All safely made it as well.”

“We need to get back to them. They’ll be worried.”

They were right about that. At the apartment, Raphael was still struggling in Jace’s hold. However, the shadowhunter still managed to wrangle him into Magnus and Alec’s soundproof bedroom and shut the door behind them to give them some privacy from the others. 

Jace sat down on the bed and pulled Raphael onto his lap. “They’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“We left them there!” 

“I know. I know we did,” Jace replied. “But they are just fine. They will be here soon.” It was hard to comfort when you also felt like kicking and screaming. The thought of what his parabatai would have gone through made him sick to his stomach. One thousand years alone, and Jace just left him there.

Raphael’s screaming had died down, but he was still gasping for unnecessary breaths. 

“Hey, come on, you’re going to make yourself sick if you keep doing that. Let’s breathe. Do what I’m doing.” Once he had gotten him calmed, he continued to sit and hold him on his lap. 

“This is not what we do,” Raphael croaked out after a moment.

“I think it’s part of the uncle job to not only help you do the fun things but to also provide comfort at times like this.”

“Yeah okay, but we’re going back to normal after this,” Raphael remarked while squirming out of Jace’s hold.

“Of course.”

“I want to go wait for them now.”

“Okay. Do you want to wash your face first?” he asked pointing out the tear tracks still evident on his face.

“Yes.” 

“I’ll wait here.”

Once they had both calmed and cleaned up, they rejoined the others in the living room. 

“Why didn’t we portal back to the warehouse?” Simon asked. 

“They wouldn’t have still been there,” Catarina told them. “Alec would have moved Magnus to a safe location, and this is likely the first place where they will look for the rest of us.”

“If nothing’s been altered, you mean,” Raphael said.

“Nothing’s been altered,” Catarina assured. “We have to trust that.”

As each minute passed without a sign of Magnus or Alec, Raphael grew more anxious. Minutes turned into a half-hour, and Raphael had nearly worked himself up to the same state as earlier, and Jace wasn’t much better off. Then just as they all thought they would break down, the front door opened, and Alec and Magnus stepped inside. Raphael dashed over to them and threw himself into their arms. Magnus looked the same as he had that morning. The spell had preserved him. His clothes and hair, even his makeup, had not changed in the least over the thousand year sleeping span. Alec, on the other hand, while still looking the same age, had definitely changed, and not just in wardrobe. His hair was longer. His body held new scars. His eyes were slightly haunted. He still smiled brightly when Raphael embraced him. 

“I’m finally older than you,” he teased gently.

Raphael half-heartedly smacked at his chest. “Not the time for jokes.”

Raphael almost refused to pull away from him, but Jace was waiting for his own turn to hug his parabatai. Raphael shifted the half of his weight that was clinging to Alec fully over to Magnus. He could at least still cling to one of them. The others while feeling the gravity of the situation could not relate in the same way. To them, everything had happened in the span of an hour. It was only Jace and Raphael, whose shared bonds with the other two were beyond what was normal, who could feel even half of what the two men felt. Even Catarina could only understand the experience on a theoretical plane rather than fully feeling what they had felt. 

The others still let Alec cling to them until he had fully processed that they were all really there, but they also dismissed themselves shortly after to allow Alec time to recover. Jace lingered behind. 

Magnus was getting scolded by Raphael, a normal occurrence in the apartment, just as it was normal for Raphael to be clinging to him at the same time, and so Jace and Alec had a few moments to sit together and talk undisturbed. “Are you okay?”

“I-It’s been a very long time for me,” Alec admitted. 

“Does it feel different?”

“Jace, I’ve been alive now for over one thousand years. I am older than Magnus even. And you all-you seem so…”

“Young?”

“Not exactly, but it feels different. I understand what Magnus has been saying all these years now.”

“And do you feel differently about your immortality?”

“It’s not a burden to me. The idea that I get to spend an eternity with those two will never be a burden, but I also don’t want to lose you. I know it’s selfish-”

“No, I understand. We’re parabatai. We’re not meant to be separated.”

“So what are we going to do?”

Jace shrugged. “I guess we have to figure out a way to make me immortal as well.”

“You would consider-”

“We’re ordering brunch now since this one never got around to eating. Jace, will you be joining us?” Magnus called out, interrupting the conversation.

“Count me in!” Jace replied while staring at Alec. “I’m not planning on leaving for a while.”


	14. Follow Up to Sleeping Beauty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was the requested follow-up dealing with Alec now being quite old. It's once again Malec centric, but Raphael is there as always.

Magnus found his husband peeking into their son’s bedroom. 

“There you are,” he murmured and pressed a kiss against Alec’s neck. “I woke up, and you weren’t there.” 

“I’m sorry. I just-,”

“You wanted to check on him,” Magnus finished. “Would you like for him to sleep in our room again?” Since Alec’s return, he had been reluctant to let anyone out of his sight. His first night back had resulted in a slumber party when after nearly everyone had left, Jace continued to feel an unnerving sense of loneliness coming through his connection with his parabatai. He had called everyone and made them return. The next night had everyone dwindling out leaving only Jace and Isabelle as guests in the apartment, and then the third night was just Jace. After that there had been two nights of Raphael sleeping in their room with Alec tucked in the middle. It was their first night back to the normal sleeping arrangements. 

Alec shook his head. “No, no, things need to go back to normal.” He pulled away from the doorway and made his way to their couch.

“It’s barely been a week. You have to give yourself time.”

Alec scrubbed at his face. “I’ve had nothing but time lately,” he replied with a painful smirk. “I am one thousand and twenty-six years old.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No,” Alec jumped up from the couch. “Don’t say that as if you have something to be sorry for.”

“But don’t I? You stayed to protect me.”

“And I would do it again. For another thousand years. For a million years. There is no amount of time too long for me when it comes to protecting you.”

“I missed so much of your life,” Magnus said, worrying his lip with his teeth. “I had all these things planned for your one-hundredth birthday and your five hundredth-”

“You haven’t even reached your five hundredth yet.”

“I know! That’s why I was going to use mine as a testing phase for yours.”

Alec chuckled. “I promise you can still throw me all the birthdays you want. You can even count as if I had never made the trip.”

“Is that what you want?” Magnus tugged Alec to sit down. They hadn’t really talked much about what had happened during all those years of waiting. Magnus had tried. Alec had resisted. Raphael had been content with just keeping Alec nearby for the time being. 

“I want us to celebrate as we were always planning to do.”

Magnus took Alec’s hand in his and tugged him so that they were sitting pressed together on the couch. 

“How are you doing? Really?”

“I-I don’t know. Sometimes I’ll be here, and everything will feel like normal. Other times I’ll look at Raphael or Jace, and I’ll feel like I am so-”

“Old?” Magnus offered. 

“That would be the feeling,” Alec agreed. 

“What about when you look at me?”

“I watched you every day for over a thousand years. You were my constant. The only thing is that sometimes I forget you can talk back now.”

Magnus chuckled. “That started out sweet, but-”

“Oh no! No! The talking back is good!” Alec quickly assured, and for the first time since everything had happened, Magnus caught a glimpse of his Alec, his young, sweet, and slightly awkward husband. Not that his old man Alec was that different. It had just been worrisome to see Alec so solemn for so long. 

“At least I can really make old man jokes now without feeling old myself,” Raphael announced, drowsily making his way into the room. “Also, in case you two forgot, your bedroom is really the only soundproof room in this whole apartment.” He plopped down on Alec’s lap and stretched his legs across Magnus’s lap until he was covering both of them.

“Ah yes, our precious little baby, who is officially the youngest in this family now,” Magnus teased while patting Raphael’s knee. 

Raphael snorted. “Whatever makes you happy. Just remember that I will always be more mature than you.” That would have been a lot more convincing if he hadn’t stuck out his tongue after saying it. 

Before Magnus could retaliate, Raphael turned his attention to his dad. He took one of Alec’s hands in his. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’ll be just fine. I think it’s just going to take some adjustment.” 

“We’re here for you,” Magnus assured. “We’ll help you every step of the way.”

“But do you really have to go back to work?” Raphael asked, having never been a fan of just how exhausting the shadowhunter lifestyle was. 

“Oh, do you want a stay-at-home parent? Are you not getting enough attention?” Magnus teased causing Raphael to hide his face in Alec’s neck and mutter insults about crazy warlocks. Alec laughed warmly. 

“I missed this. The teasing and holding you both,” Alec said and took one of Magnus’s hands in his free one. He laced their fingers together. “I would do this every day,” he said. “When I was waiting for you to wake up, I would sit and hold your hand and pray that you would squeeze back.”

“Alexander,” Magnus breathed out. 

“And you,” Alec stroked Raphael’s hair. “I would pray every night that I didn’t forget a single detail about your face or your voice. I wanted you with us, but I knew sending you back was the right thing to do. Have you forgiven me for that?”

“There’s nothing to forgive,” Raphael promised. 

“Really? I saw you kicking and screaming while Jace dragged you through the portal.”

Magnus raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t hear about this part.”

“I was a little emotional then,” Raphael mumbled as if it had been much longer than just a week ago. “I’ve had time to think, and I understand now why you did what you did. You didn’t want to risk Magnus waking up to no family, and since the story had only mentioned one protector, you didn’t want to risk me getting killed while we waited for him to wake up.”

“You’re not going to argue about being treated like a child in future situations? Because I would have done the same thing Alexander did,” Magnus pointed out. 

“I don’t think I can argue about that anymore. I mean, I thought that because I am older than most humans get to be that that meant I was old, but you two are so much older than I am that I can see how you would see me as a child at times. And…” he trailed off. 

“What is it?” Magnus asked. 

“Sometimes I still feel like one.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Magnus promised. “Though now that you mention it, I am going to say that you need to be back in bed. You have a job in the morning. All of us should be in bed actually if we’re going to function tomorrow.”

“Or we could all skip work tomorrow and stay home. Avoid people.”

Alec laughed. “Nice try. Go to bed.”

Raphael bid them both good night and returned to his room, and Magnus and Alec returned to their own room for the night. Though Alec had assured that all he needed was to get readjusted to things, Magnus could see the way he lingered sometimes to look at things and how at certain times he wouldn’t remember where something was since it had been so long since he had needed it. Time. All he needed was time. Though it had been time that had caused everything to begin with. 

“I could take the memories,” Magnus offered softly. “If you wanted it, I could make it as if you were only twenty-six again.”

Alec paused from where he was climbing into bed. “I had thought about that,” he admitted “But there are good memories in there. I wasn’t always alone. I met some good people even if I couldn’t actually be close friends with them, and I got to watch this city form. I got to hear rumors about you.”

“Rumors?”

“Some of your stories got passed around quite a bit,” Alec assured. “And then when you got involved with Shadowhunter business, it got even easier to hear rumors. And it wasn’t like I had to be that careful. It was like I just knew which people I was allowed to interact with and which would lead to time alterations. I knew when I could rescue someone and when I had to stay out of the situation.”

“So it wasn’t all bad then?”

“No, it wasn’t,” Alec promised. “Also it gave me some time to think about things.”

“What kind of things?” 

Alec chuckled. “You’ll see.” 

“What’s that mean?” Magnus asked curiously. 

Alec kissed him. “You’ll see,” he promised again. 

“More cats? Are we finally getting more cats?”

“You’ll see.” 

“A house?”

“You’ll see.”

“What about-”

“Good night, my husband.”

“Alexander, you can’t leave me wondering like this!”


	15. A Surprise for Magnus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus finally finds out what Alec's been planning for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks, everyone for the patience while I get everything together. This is just an extra story I threw in while I work on the original plots. Hope it helps with the wait.

Raphael peeked out quietly from his hiding space on the patio. He had managed to get the cameras set up at the perfect angles, and for good measure, he had even had Simon over to lend a hand. The same Simon, who was currently hiding next to him and doing a horrible job of suppressing his excitement.

“Do not ruin this,” Raphael warned half-heartedly. He knew Simon couldn’t help but be excited. After all, he had been absent the first time as well through no fault of his own. 

“Here they come!” Simon said gleefully, and he and Raphael both darted down behind the bushes. Raphael had been working with Alec for weeks on the plan after his dad had pulled him aside and asked for his advice. It had been an ongoing game of sorts. Magnus had nearly been driven mad by not being told what it was that Alec was planning. Every morning started with Magnus proposing a new idea, and Alec only replying “you’ll see” before launching into a new topic altogether. It had taken every skill they had on their part to keep Magnus from finding out, including sneaking out of the apartment to meet at random locations to avoid having their plans overheard. 

Magnus and Alec didn’t have a big wedding the first time. Everything had still been too raw, and they were only concerned with being with each other. They had had no real concern over the ceremony itself. The first ceremony had been only them and a handful of their closest friends. It had been sweet enough from what Raphael had heard about it, but the memories surrounding it had a sad feel to them. The number of people absent and the somberness did not suit either of their styles. Things had changed so quickly in such a short time that Alec wanted to do it again. He wanted all their families there. He wanted the extravagance that Magnus was so fond of, and he had had one thousand years to plan it all. 

Alec led Magnus out onto the patio. They must have gotten back onto the topic of his plans because Magnus was playfully whining. “Will you tell me now?”

“Yes,” Alec finally said. 

Magnus froze, apparently not prepared for that response. “What?”

Alec laughed. “I am going to tell you exactly what it is that I have been planning.” None of them had magic. That was Magnus’s thing. However, what they did have was technology, art, and an absurd amount of planning and effort. Alec gave the cue, and Simon and Raphael set to work pressing buttons and setting off all their plans. The fairy lights, which thankfully had not been borrowed from actual seelies, flared on and illuminated the space in a soft glow, and the music began to play. 

“May I have this dance?” Alec asked. 

Magnus nodded, his mouth agape. “This is lovely, Alexander.” Alec had known how to dance prior, but sometime during the one thousand years, he had definitely found time to practice. His skill was nearly on par with Magnus’s own, and Raphael found that he couldn’t glance away from the sight. It was stunning. 

“Your dads are like impossible perfect,” Simon whispered.

Normally Raphael would have scoffed and made a comment about how they looked first thing in the morning tripping over their own feet or how they snored in their sleep or something like that, but at that moment, all he could think of was just how perfect they were. 

“Shhh, I want to hear everything,” Raphael replied instead. 

As the song reached its ending, they started up the next part of the plan., and the video began playing on the brick wall. It was a collection of special moments from their lives which had been carefully edited together. Alec turned Magnus to watch the video, and he stood behind him with his chin on Magnus’s shoulder. 

“Everything changed the day I met you. I knew at that moment that you were going to be a part of my life in some way. I am glad we figured out so quickly that it was in the best way. You have made my life worth living. You have given me hope, happiness, a family, and a love that is so strong I can barely believe it exists sometimes. We have celebrated many good moments together, and we have survived many difficult ones together. I asked you to marry me once before, and you said yes. Our wedding was beautiful, but when we said our vows ‘forever’ meant a very different thing back then to me. I was young and very mortal. 

“Alexander-”

“Magnus, I want to say our vows again. I want to promise you forever again and this time as your ‘old’ husband and as an immortal looking at a forever that truly means until the end of time. I want to give you the wedding of your dreams. I want all of our family and all of our friends there. I want everyone to witness our love and to have a chance to celebrate with us.” He pulled away from Magnus and got down on his knee. “If you will still have me, I want to marry you, Magnus Lightwood-Bane, all over again. Will you do me the honor of marrying me again?’ 

Magnus’s eyes were glistening. “Yes, my Alexander, I will marry you again.” 

Alec stood and pulled Magnus into a kiss. It was a long kiss. Raphael suddenly found himself able to look away from them. Not wanting to ruin the moment, Raphael waited patiently before emerging, managing to keep a hand clasped over Simon’s mouth as he did to keep the other from shouting out in his excitement. 

Finally, Alec, who knew they were there, drew away, and Magnus continued to gaze at the elaborate decorations they had managed to gather including some wonderful paintings which Clary had made for the occasion. “How did you manage all this?”

“I had help,” Alec replied. “You two can come out now,” he called. 

Raphael and Simon came out of hiding. 

“Oh my sweet boys, did you help too?” Magnus greeted. Simon beamed proudly at pet name while Raphael prepared himself to be smothered. Sure enough, Magnus embraced both of them planting kisses on both of their foreheads. 

“We recorded the proposal too. I’ll have it edited for you in no time, and then you can watch it over and over again,” Simon announced. 

“Speaking of which,” Raphael pointed out.

“Right! Need to stop the recordings,” Simon announced and raced about collecting them all from their hidden locations. “I just want to say that while I did do all these out of our friendship, I also want to point out what a great groomsman I would be. I would be all on top of planning and organizing.”

“We’ll talk about it,” Alec promised with a laugh. 

“Really? Thanks!” Simon was practically bouncing. “I just love weddings, so if you need help with anything, just let me know. Now, I’m going to take these and get to work on editing. Congratulations!” He glanced over at Raphael. “You coming?”

“I’ll just be a minute.”

“Where are you going?” Magnus asked. 

“I’m spending the night at Simon’s, so that you two can celebrate however you want, and I don’t risk seeing anything that might traumatize me.” 

“You don’t have to-”

“Jace is coming over, and we’re going to play video games and eat take out.”

“Sounds-interesting-” Magnus tried.

“Have fun,” Alec's attempt was better. 

“I’ll be back by lunch tomorrow,” Raphael promised before rushing after Simon. 

“He’s getting stranger,” Magnus remarked. 

“It’s cute,” Alec replied. “Now, celebrating. How are we going to do that?” he asked.

“Oh darling, leave that to me. You planned all this. The least I can do is reward all your work.”


	16. Grounded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raphael gets grounded

Raphael stormed through the door with Alec following behind him. “Your husband is ridiculous!” the daylighter exclaimed to Magnus while heading straight to his room. A string of Spanish curses followed, several of which Magnus hadn’t been aware even existed. 

“Do I want to know?” Magnus asked Alec, who stood just inside the doorway twisting his hands through his hair.

“I might have grounded him, and he might be taking it badly.”

Magnus’s eyes widened. “You grounded him?”

“I couldn’t think of anything else. He, Jace, and Simon nearly got themselves killed with that stunt they pulled today.” Ah yes, the three of them had decided that they just had to ambush the horde of demons as soon as they found them rather than calling for backup and waiting for three minutes for the rest to get there. They had all come out with minor injuries, but that had been purely from a combination of luck and from Alec managing to track them down quickly at the first feeling of pain radiating from his parabatai. 

“And so this was your way of handling that?” 

“I put Jace on paperwork for two weeks, and Simon’s banned from visiting the Institute for that time. The only thing I could come up with for Raphael was to ground him.”

Magnus nodded. “All of those things sound reasonable,” he agreed. “However-”

Alec sighed. “However?” he prompted. 

“While you and I understand why these things are reasonable, does he? I mean, is he actually going with it? Technically he’s an adult, and we can’t exactly force him to remain here, especially when we’re both working.”

Alec raised an eyebrow. 

“Yeah, okay, technically between the two of us it would be very possible to lock him in here,” Magnus admitted, “However, I don’t want to employ any of those techniques.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to,” Alec added.

“So he’s really going to keep himself grounded then?”

Alec shrugged. “We’ll see.”

Inside the bedroom, there was a thump as if someone had just thrown himself dramatically onto his bed.

Alec raised an eyebrow. “Do you think he remembers he’s an adult?”

Magnus shrugged. “We’ll see.”

Things had cooled down remarkably by the next morning, and by cooled down, they had frozen over. Raphael seemed to be firing icy daggers at them with every glance. While not stooping to giving them the silent treatment, he only gave cool one worded responses whenever he was prompted to speak. At first, the attitude had only been aimed at Alec, but once he had found out that Magnus supported the decision and also thought two weeks was too lenient, Raphael had started giving him the same icy treatment. It reached the point that when Alec left for the institute, Magnus followed him to the door and making sure that Raphael was out of earshot, he grasped at his husband’s arm. 

“Don’t leave me alone with him,” he hissed.

“He’ll get over it,” Alec promised. “Just…maybe work mainly in your office today. I don’t think his glare can cut through walls yet.”

“But he could torture me now. He’s already grounded! He has nothing to lose.”

“If he’s that bad then just extend how long he’s grounded for,” Alec offered. 

“Ah yes, I can see it now. As he’s attempting to kill me, I can just threaten him with another week of house confinement.” 

Alec snorted. “It’s working so far, isn’t it?”

And that was thing. It was working. Surprisingly well actually. Raphael was adhering to the rules Alec had set. He was staying in the apartment. He wasn’t touching his phone which sat on the living room mantel where it was to remain for the two weeks. He did his usual household responsibilities with all the same attention and care as usual, and he even helped to reorganize their book collection. He followed all the rules precisely even if his attitude was chilly at best, and then they reached the third day of the grounding. 

Raphael was pouting. It was the only way to describe the expression on his face right then. “If I’m grounded, then shouldn’t I be at home anyway?”

“No, because there’s no one there to make sure you don’t go out, and besides you probably enjoying staying in by yourself more than going out so it’s not really a punishment.”

“You make it sound like I hate people.”

Alec raised an eyebrow.

“I just find them slightly intolerable. Anyway, what about the retirement center?”

“Sunday and Wednesdays only, and either Magnus or I will be going with you.”

Raphael grumbled and shifted around in the chair. “This is humiliating. You didn’t tell anyone else I was grounded, right? None of your little minions around here heard about that, did they?”

Alec’s expression softened. “Of course not. It’s between us.” 

Not even Jace and Simon were aware of what Raphael’s punishment was. He had issued theirs first. Those had gone over surprisingly well too, but he knew it was just because of their own relationships with him. If he would have been anyone else, Jace would have argued back, but he was Alec: big brother and parabatai, and Jace had spent enough years with Alec to know better than to try to argue back when in such a situation. Also, there was the fact that he just generally respected his Alec’s opinion on certain matters. 

When Alec had gotten to Simon, he had spluttered excuses and whined about not being allowed to visit the Institute for two weeks, but he hadn’t really refused his punishment either. Everyone at the institute was aware of both of those things. Being on paperwork was a normal event that everyone had endured at certain points during their time at the institute, and Jace was also extremely vocal about his hatred of forms. As for Simon, the institute had been alerted that he was not to visit for two weeks as a reprimand, but no further details had been given. 

As for Raphael, his own punishment had nothing to do with the institute, and so Alec had not felt any reason to share it with anyone else. He had even dismissed both of the others before he addressed Raphael, so that Raphael could decide himself whether he would be telling any others or not. As for him accompanying Alec to the institute during the days that Magnus was out, that was nothing too unusual either. He could always brush it off as needing a consultant on old cases.

“Now, you can either sit there staring at the walls until time for us to go home, or you can help me out with some things.”

Raphael sighed. “What can I help with?”

As the days passed, Raphael’s mood began to lighten, and Raphael even looked forward to having Magnus and Alec join him at the retirement center. Though he refused to let Alec help with the meal prep beyond chopping things. His friends at the retirement center had been pleased when he had shown up with two extra visitors. Most of the women and several of the men had whispered comments about how handsome both of the men were. Several of the comments made Raphael wish he didn’t have super-hearing, but then that wouldn’t have helped much when he kept getting tugged aside. 

“Are they single? How do they feel about older women?” Raphael had to bite back any comments about how both men were way older than anyone in the retirement center and instead informed the interrogators that the men were happily married to each other. That revelation had resulted in Raphael overhearing many many comments about certain fantasies that he was pretty sure would get him out of any further grounding once he revealed to his dads just how traumatized he was from only a few days of his punishment.

“And how do you know the lovely couple?” Penelope, who had been close friends with Rosa, asked him once he got a moment to sit and chat with her. 

“They’re my parents,” he replied unthinkingly. Then realizing how it might look weird to a mundane quickly followed it up with a quick, “I’m adopted.” 

“I thought that might be the situation. Introduce me then. I want to meet your parents.”

“Are you sure-”

“Raphael Santiago,” she started. 

“Lightwood-Bane,” he continued. “That’s my last name by the way.” 

“Thank you for trusting me with that.”

He nodded slowly. “I’ll just get them then.” He led Magnus and Alec over to Penelope, not understanding why he felt so nervous, but he did. 

“Penelope, this is Magnus and Alec.” He couldn’t remember the last time he had actually said their names. “Papa, Dad, this is Penelope. She and Rosa were best friends.”

If Magnus and Alec were thrown by being introduced as Raphael’s parents to a mundane, they certainly didn’t show it. Magnus was just as charming as ever, and Alec was just as polite. 

“Your son is just the most kind-hearted young man,” Penelope gushed, and Raphael tried not to die of embarrassment, especially when they both thanked her for her compliments. “You’ve raised him so well,” she continued on, and that was something they didn’t seem to know how to respond to. 

“They did,” Raphael quickly agreed. “They’re the best dads,” he added, noticing the way both of them teared up slightly at his words.

They went home that night after a few rounds of BINGO and several promises that Magnus and Alec would return regularly from then on. Back in their apartment, Raphael hesitated after they stepped through the door. His earlier icy attitude was gone. 

“Gracias,” he whispered. “For going with me and for grounding me. I know you only do these things because you care,” he tugged both of them into a hug.

“So in the future?”

“I guess you can ground me if I deserve it,” Raphael granted. “But if you two do anything dangerous then…”

“Then you can lecture us for as long as you deem necessary,” Alec suggested. 

“This seems unbalanced,” Raphael pointed out. “Because I get the lectures and the grounding, and all you two would get is lectures.”

“Well, that’s because you’re our baby,” Magnus teased. “So let us be overprotective,” he added in a softer tone.

Raphael nodded. “Okay. For now,” he agreed. “So, since we’ve had this little heart to heart, does this mean we can consider my grounding officially over? One week is sufficient right. We don’t really need the second.”

Alec chuckled. “Think again”


	17. Madzie's plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Future fic: 
> 
> Madzie has an idea. Raphael just can't say no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My laptop battery has experienced permanent failure which has made it incredibly difficult to write. However, it should be fixed tomorrow. In the meantime, please enjoy this super casual fic I wrote up (and which got deleted 3 times due to the battery issue. BTW. batteries just suddenly going out can completely erase a file and its backups if it goes out in the middle of saving it. Fair warning.

Raphael blinks, and Madzie transforms from a sweet little seven year old to an incredibly cunning fourteen year old. That’s not really how it happens, but that’s how it feels. One day he’s helping her to color in her coloring books, and the next she’s engaging him in debates about literature and movies. She’s nearly grown to the point that he can stop looking at her as a child he cares for and instead look at her as a trusted friend. Or well, maybe not so much a trusted friend as a friend that will possibly drive him up the wall as Magnus had once (and still on occasion) managed to do. 

Madzie’s over at their apartment. Catarina, Magnus, and Alec are in the living room chatting over after dinner cocktails and have left the “kids” to entertain themselves. It’s an old habit from back in the days when Raphael would be asked to escort Madzie off to another room to keep her out of earshot of the “adult conversations”. Their excuse back then had been that he was the only one capable of hearing the conversation no matter where they were in the apartment, and so he should be the one to have to listen in from a distance. It’s also now the idea that whatever they were talking about would bore the two of them, especially since Madzie could not really participate in the drinking part of the evening, and Raphael, out of politeness, didn’t drink when Madzie couldn’t. 

“I can’t believe I have to go to a new school this year,” Madzie groans, stabbing at the strawberry in her Magnus-specialty mocktail a little more forcefully than necessary. Her hair reaches down to her thighs in multi-colored braids, carefully dyed in a variety of magically-enhanced hair dyes that glow beautifully in the dark. She had charmed Magnus into helping her with the dye job, and Catarina had since informed him that he would also be helping with the upkeep. It took a lot of upkeep. Raphael absentmindedly fiddles with the ends of the braids, wincing as he recalls how their apartment had smelled of a mixture of artificial fruits and bleach for two weeks after. 

“Maybe a new school will be fun.”

“Don’t give me lame lines like that. I expect better from you,” she levitates her empty glass to a nearby table and throws herself backward onto the hammock next to Raphael. Stretching one leg out to push off against the ground, she swings them back and form. Her platform heels have long been abandoned in favor of running around the apartment barefoot, so she can barely reach the ground from her comfortable position. Raphael is just pleased that without the shoes, Madzie is still a bit shorter than him. A selfish part of him hopes that her aging stops while they still look similar in age. Another part of him knows she will be much better off in the long run if her aging stops closer to thirty.

“High school is only for four years,” he says. What was four years to an immortal? 

“Four years of mundane activities and education. Worst of all, I won’t be allowed to use any magic on the campus. I have to take lessons after school now. That means it’s like double the amount of school.” Madzie had gotten to attend a warlock academy during elementary school and middle school. However, the closest warlock high school is well outside of New York, and Catarina refused to let Madzie just portal in and out every day. For one thing it was illegal for underage warlocks to make their own portals. Another reason was that making that many portals that often would drain even the most powerful of their kind. The last reason was that Catarina had felt that Madzie needed more exposure to the mundane world, and that high school presented her the best opportunity. Alec and Raphael had tried suggesting that she just watch teen dramas instead, but that had only served to further convince Catarina that going to a mundane school for a few years was in Madzie’s best interest.

“High school can’t be that bad,” Raphael says after a moment. 

“Maybe it wasn’t when you were in high school.” She picks at her nail polish: one of her worst habits. Raphael can’t say anything though. He caught himself biting at his cuticles the other day. Luckily, Madzie’s habit left her plenty of opportunities for trying out all the You-tube tutorials without having to borrow Raphael’s nails.  
“Don’t know. I didn’t go.”

Madzie’s eyes narrow. “What do you mean you didn’t go?”

“It wasn’t really common back then. Then there was that whole part where I was busy trying not to eat people thing.”

It takes him three second to realize his mistake. In that amount of time, Madzie flies out of the hammock as if she were the one with super speed. She even gives it a good tug to flip him backward, entangling him into the netting. By the time he manages to escape, Madzie is confronting the adults with the same expression that had won her many arguments back in the day. 

“If cousin Raphael didn’t have to go to high school then I shouldn’t either.” 

Raphael sighs while the other three blink in surprise. 

“You didn’t go to high school?” Alec asks Raphael. 

“You didn’t have him finish high school?” Catarina’s question is aimed at Magnus. 

Magnus mulls it over. “That might have been the thing we forgot. To be fair, we had a much different relationship during those first few years.”

“He was more like an annoying roommate back then than a papa,” Raphael clarifies. “And besides, it’s not like it was important in the long run. I learned plenty on my own and from Papa.”

“Then why can’t I learn from Uncle Magnus too?”

Magnus splutters. “Oh no, I don’t think that’s the best idea, princess. I didn’t exactly focus on academics with Raphael. I just-”

“He was there for me when I became a vampire, even if he was slightly annoying at times. The academics-they came more from age- and a lot of books.”

“Then you should go for real now. I could use a friend there.”

Raphael squirms under her suddenly too wide eyes. How does she even do that? He looks to the others for help, but Catarina just looks contemplative and a little relieved. 

“Cat-,” he starts then quickly corrects himself at the look she sends him. “Tia.” Going beyond even the usual “aunt” title and instead resorting to the Spanish, something he only does with people outside their little family of three when he’s feeling particularly young or frustrated. “You cannot seriously think this is a good idea.”

“Well, I mean, it’s a good experience, and it’s only for four years.”

Raphael can see how the four year argument was not effective with Madzie earlier. He’s certainly not reassured by it. Magnus nods in agreement with Catarina. 

“She’s right. It’s only for a short time, and you’ve been saying how you’ve been wanting something to focus on. Why not give school a try? If you like it, you might even want to go on to university. We do live in one of the best cities for colleges after all.” Magnus is already planning things. Raphael knows just by looking at him. He’s probably trying to figure out the best way to forge Raphael’s paperwork. Raphael already knows that he’s a lost cause. He turns his gaze to Alec, who was typically the voice of reason. 

“Dad,” he pleads. He’s hit by an image of his youngest brother the morning of his first day of school. The six year old had been in tears not wanting to go to school every day when he was used to staying at home with their abuela and being spoiled by her. Their abuela had nearly given into his tears, not wanting to have him gone for so many hours every day. Raphael absurdly wonders if he pitches a similar tantrum, complaining about not wanting to be separated from his dads, if Alec would give in or possibly even Magnus. He doesn’t try it though. His dignity just manages to win over his desperation. Also, Madzie would not hesitate to film the whole thing if he did and use it against him later. 

“Dad, tell them I have a job.”

“It’s freelance. We can work around a school schedule for four years,” Alec assures. “I think you might enjoy it really.” 

Madzie is grabbing at his hands. “Oh please, Raphael, please! You’re my best friend, and if we both went to high school together, it would probably be fun!” 

He has never been able to refuse her, and this time feels no different. He resigns himself to what he is about to do. “Well, it is only four years,” he admits. 

The way Madzie’s eyes water in gratitude is almost enough to make up for the four years of torture he’s about to subject himself to. “Really?” 

“I’ll try it for a year,” he compromises, thinking that after the first year Madzie will have made enough other friends to not be as insistent that he tag along. 

“Ah, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” She kisses his cheek and grabs for her phone saying something about picking extracurriculars. Raphael sighs deeply and turns to look at the “adults”. All three wear smirks. 

“I hate all of you,” Raphael mutters. 

Catarina’s smirk just grows wider, and she turns to Magnus. “I’ll get you the contact information for the school. There’s only two weeks before classes start, but we can…,” she gives a wave of her hand that means they’ll be using quite a bit of magic to get him enrolled. Magnus and Catarina get into the details of the school, and Madzie joins in to offer her own opinions. Not even caring about his image any longer, Raphael shuffles his way over to Alec and plops down on his lap. 

Alec chuckles into his hair. “Pobrecito bebe, you’re not really upset about it are you?” 

“No,” Raphael admits. The idea kind of intrigues him the more he thinks about it. He’s not particularly pleased about having to hang out with actual teenagers for so many days of the week. He’s also not particularly pleased to be bossed around by people who only think they are older than him. However, he’s interested in seeing how school has changed and what the new subjects are. He also is just kind of interested in seeing what it’s like being a normal student. 

“Of course, you’ll want to go ahead and put in the orders for his uniforms.” Raphael overhears Catarina telling Magnus, and he lightly bangs his forehead against Alec’s shoulder. 

“Uniforms,” he groans. 

“You can make it a year,” Alec assures. “And just think, you can make your Papa do all those required parent volunteer hours.”

Raphael grins. “I do like the sound of that.” 

Everything gets decided before the end of their evening. Forms are filled out. Required papers are forged. An order for uniforms is put in, along with an immense amount of accessories Magnus insists on getting. 

“You don’t even have a car! Why do you need a proud parent bumper sticker!?!” Raphael exclaims when he finally brings himself to look at the order. 

“Let me brag!” Magnus insists. 

“Oh, get me that mug,” Alec says checking out the website over Magnus’s shoulder. 

Catarina and Madzie eventually head home. Madzie continues thanking Raphael even on her way out the door. He has never seen her so thrilled, and he had been there the first time she saw a baby giraffe in person. She makes him promise to tell her if he decides to join any clubs, and he agrees. 

When they’re gone, Magnus takes his turn at cuddling. He hands the laptop off to Alec, who is already deciding what Proud Grandmother shirt Maryse might like, and he takes the opportunity to tug Raphael into his lap.

“You’re sure about this?” he asks. 

“It’s only one year.”

“Maybe four.”

“Maybe four,” Raphael relents. 

“I’m going to miss having you home with me most days,” Magnus admits, sighing dramatically. 

“You do know that school is only eight to three, right?” 

“But I’m used to having my little baby here all day,” he teases. Raphael twists around trying to escape Magnus’s tightening hold. 

“Maybe I should look into a boarding school,” Raphael grumbles as Magnus peppers his face with obnoxious kisses. “Dad, help!” 

Alec laughs and lets him continue to struggle until Magnus finally releases his hold on Raphael letting him tumble his way to the middle of the couch. 

“We’ll need to go shopping tomorrow. You’ll need a backpack and notebooks and-” Magnus continues to list things, and Raphael rolls his eyes. 

“We don’t need much. It’s only for a year,” he points out. 

Alec and Magnus both grin. “Sure,” they agree. 

Four years later, Raphael and Madzie pose for pictures outside their school in their caps and gowns. Their friends are gathered around them, all making ridiculous faces at the camera. Each person tries to outdo the other. 

“Now just the cousins,” Magnus instructs, and their friends clear to the sides.

“I guess you were right,” Madzie says.

“I’m always right, but what is it about this time?” 

“High school wasn’t so bad,” she says. Raphael adjusts her cap, and she takes a moment to fix his. “Well, what’s your verdict?”

“Yeah, I was right. High school wasn’t so bad after all.”


	18. Promptfic: Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was written for Alexeis who requested "battle!Malec + Raphael? It would be so cool seeing their dynamic together and protecting each other"
> 
> In which I added too many characters and a lot of slime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me quite awhile to write, and I still don't feel that it quite meets the prompt, but I'll be putting more battle scenes in later, so hopefully there will be at least one that embodies this idea.
> 
> Also, I have a new Tumblr (@acefangs) revolving around Raphael (and other asexual characters). Please feel free to follow it for update announcements and also some future drabbles that don't quite fit this series, but that I want to post.

“Dad! Get down!” 

Alec dropped to the ground immediately as Raphael leaped over him and tackled the demon had been trying to sneak up on him from behind. Raphael stood up and flicked the blood and slime from his hands with a look of disgust on his face. “These things are disgusting. I need an actual weapon,” he complained. 

“There you are, sweet boy,” Magnus replied just as a sword appeared in Raphael’s hands. Then the warlock was right back to blasting slime demons away from himself with his usual efficiency and flair. 

Raphael’s eyes widened in appreciation. “This could work.” He swung the blade around, slicing through a nearby slime demon with ease. “Yes, this will definitely do. Gracias, Papa!””

“As always, I’m happy to help.” 

An arrow flew over Raphael’s shoulder. There was a splatter of goo as it impacted with its target that thankfully did not reach Raphael. 

“Gracias, Dad,” he called and darted over another of the slime demons with a wince. The demons of the day looked like giant slugs. They were annoying and disgusting, but they were far from being an actual threat. They smelled hideous, and their slime very much resembled a substance that Raphael did not want to be reminded of right then. They also seemed to be waging war on fashion itself as all of them seemed intent on ruining his favorite shoes but somehow managed to steer clear of the bright atrocity that Simon called a t-shirt. Of course, none of them were dressed for battling slime demons (except Simon. His wardrobe was still an assault on the senses). They had all been going out to dinner, all of them actually walking since it was a nice evening out, when they had stumbled upon the attack and had little choice but to handle the situation. 

At least since Raphael was fighting alongside his dads he was faring better than the others.The rest were falling victim to the slime one by one, and all with rather hideous results. 

Clary tried to dodge another attack, but the seven inch heels which she had obviously bought under Isabelle’s influence slid through some of the residue slime causing her to land heavily on her butt right in middle of puddle of slime. “I just wanted some sushi,” she whined. 

Raphael neatly sliced through one of the slime demons. “How about some slug sashimi?” he called out. Clary’s face took on an unflattering shade of green. 

“Never mind. I’m not really feeling sushi any longer.” As she tried to stand, the slime made a disturbing suctioning noise. “It’s lotion. It’s only lotion,” she chanted the rather ineffective lie to herself as she stuck her hands down into the slime to try to push herself off the ground. 

In a rather spectacular display of -something, Jace started to run over to help her but instead ended up sliding right past her and landing seraph first on another of the demons, causing it to splatter all over his face. 

“That’s my brother always doing things with flair,” Alec teased at the sight. Jace pulled himself up from the ground. Slime dripped off every inch of him. 

“Few can be as fabulous as me,” Jace managed to spit out. 

“I’m pretty certain that I’m looking nearly as fabulous at this moment,” Isabelle replied. Right then she was struggling to see through her long hair which had become plastered to her face from all the slime. She had made the mistake of flipping one through the air with her whip. Unfortunately it had -well-popped- right over her head, raining a shower of slime right onto her. 

Speaking of which, a shower of slime was currently heading right towards Raphael thanks to both an impressive but poorly aimed attack on Simon’s part. Before even a speck of the slime could touch Raphael’s carefully styled hair, a umbrella shaped barrier formed over his head thanks to his indulgent papa.For his part, Simon looked relieved that Magnus had managed to save Raphael from being slimed, if only because Simon knew exactly what would have happened to him otherwise if he had been the cause of Raphael being covered in goo. 

Raphael recovered from the near miss quickly and went back to slicing up slime demons with the long sword Magnus had given him, doing his best to aim carefully and to keep a good grip on the blade while his hands still had goo on them from his earlier attack. The fight felt never-ending. As soon as one demon got chopped, two more seemed to rise from the ooze. Raphael was getting bored, and he was beginning to think that he was never going to be free of the smell of the demons. 

Alec carefully jumped over the corpses of the fallen slug demons and to his husband’s side. They both checked in with each other while taking a moment to catch their breath before they had to leap back into the fight. Despite being a little winded, both of them still looked amazingly put together. Magnus was completely slime free while Alec’s boots had only the smallest specks of the stuff on them. It was somewhat unfair just how flawless the two of them could be at times. 

Raphael chopped through another demon and then ran over to his dads. He held out his hands to them. “It’s hard to hold the sword like this,” he said indicating the slime that still clung to his hands. It had taken all of his self-discipline to keep from wiping them on his pants as he had seen Simon do earlier, but the slime was beginning to dry uncomfortably on his hands. 

“Seriously? You’re going complain about that little bit of mess?” Jace asked with disbelief. 

Magnus had already summoned handy wipes and a towel though and was scrubbing at Raphael’s hands while Alec watched out for any possible attackers. “This isn’t working. They just keep regenerating from the slime,” Alec noted as another slime demon slid its way over to their group. “We need a more efficient plan.”

“We could use some help here!” Simon called out to them. “When the sidekicks are left alone they tend to not do well!” 

“Who said we’re the sidekicks?” Clary exclaimed. 

“Have you seen the three of them? They are obviously the leads here!” 

“What about salt?” Raphael suggested ignoring the mess of a conversation happening only a few feet away. 

“We would need a massive amount of salt,” Alec replied. 

“I can handle bringing the salt,’ Raphael assured.

“Oh, darling, we are well aware of that fact,” Magnus said with a grin. 

Raphael rolled his eyes. “I’ll take Simon, and we’ll get the salt and use it to slow the slugs down. Papa, you should open a portal, and Dad, you and the others send them through.”

Alec nodded. “Let’s try it. It might work.” 

“It’s a brilliant idea,” Magnus confirmed. “Go on, we’ll stay here and continue chopping them up.”

Raphael darted over to Simon and grabbed hold of him, dragging him along. “Come on, we need salt.” 

“Don’t you already-”

“Papa already made that joke.”

Simon shrugged. “I had to try.”

Raphael and Simon managed to “borrow” some salt from the closest three establishments that they knew would have it on hand. Using just a bit of encanto and then once just some plain old speed, they managed to have most of it “donated” to their cause. They raced back to the fighting with vats of the stuff to find that somehow things had managed to get even messier. Jace was literally spitting out slime at that point while Alec, remaining just out of arms’ reach of his parabatai for once, offered him one of the handy wipes from the pack that Magnus had summoned for Raphael earlier. It worked to clear all one whole inch of Jace’s face, but that was it. Meanwhile, Isabelle and Clary were fighting back to back, but a closer look showed that rather than doing that out of protection, they were jsut leaning on each other to keep from falling back down in the slime. 

“We’ve got it,” Simon announced as they raced up to rejoin everyone. Together the two of them threw salt on every slime covered surface including their friends. The slime in a spectacularly supernatural way began to dry out the slime allowing Alec, Jace, Isabelle, and Clary to easily scrape and scoot the slugs toward the portal Magnus held open for them. Eventually the only slime left was what coated their skin and clothes, and Magnus determined that despite the quantity of it, it was far from being enough to regenerate a new slug.

“I need to shower,” Isabelle announced. “I need to live in the shower actually.”

“Do we still want to grab dinner?” Simon asked. “We could meet up after everyone gets clean again.”

Clary’s face went green again. “I don’t think I can eat sushi tonight.” She glared at Raphael. “Or possibly ever again.”

Simon laughed and started to pat Raphael on the back with a slime-covered hand. Thankfully, Magnus reached forward and tugged Raphael over just in time. 

“How about we go somewhere else then? Say in about two hours? Is that sufficient?” Magnus offered. “I can even portal us long distance.”

“Oh, that place in Mumbai,” Alec suggested. 

Raphael perked up. “I love that place.”

“Well, while you three are planning our new dinner, we should clean up. Come on, people, let’s go. I can feel the slime slipping into some very uncomfortable places,” Jace announced. 

They trailed back to the institute with Simon tagging along leaving the Lightwood-Banes to make their way back to their own apartment to wait for them. Before they even took a step, Magnus waved his hand and every trace of slime that had touched one of the three was gone. 

“You could have done that the whole time?” Alec asked. 

Magnus smirked. “I could have, but what fun would that have been?’


	19. 5 times Raphael sat in someone's lap and 1 time someone sat in his

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What the title says

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. Some exciting things have been happening which I hope to share with everyone later. To get info on delays or to get extra drabbles, follow me on Tumblr @acefangs 
> 
> ******
> 
> This is not an official chapter, but until things get better under control, please enjoy these shorts. These scenes all take place at random times in the series.

1\. Magnus 

Madzie and Catarina were visiting again. Catarina and Magnus were having tea while Raphael was left to keep Madzie entertained. At six years old, Madzie was going through a bit of a clingy phase. Every so often she would hand her dolls over to Raphael and run to Catarina wanting to sit on her lap. Catarina would scoop her up and cuddle her for a bit until Madzie started squirming. The pattern would repeat every few minutes until eventually, Madzie sprawled out on the couch for her nap.

Once certain that Madzie was comfortable, Raphael then pulled himself off the floor and over to the kitchen. He was feeling a little lightheaded and realized that while he had eaten plenty at breakfast, he hadn’t finished his blood that morning. Only he couldn’t seem to find any. He wandered over to Magnus and Catarina, who were in the middle of one of their more energetic debates.

As soon as he was standing close enough, Magnus reached out to pull him onto his lap. He did it out of habit without even pausing in his conversation except to press a kiss to Raphael’s temple. Catarina smirked over the rim of her teacup at the sight but doesn’t say a word. When Magnus finished his thought, he turned his attention to Raphael. 

“Did you need something, darling?” 

Raphael squirmed a little embarrassed because he realized just how similar his current actions were to Madzie’s earlier ones. It also really didn’t help matters that the only thing he could say was, “I’m hungry.” 

“Oh, did you want me to portal you to somewhere specific?” 

“No, not that. I just can’t find any blood.” 

Magnus’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry, baby. I thought the order would have already been delivered by now, and I didn’t think to call and check on the delay. Luckily, I have an emergency supply on hand.” He shifted Raphael off his lap. “Excuse me for a moment, Catarina.”

“No worries. I know how it is.” There was a teasing tone in her voice. 

“I’ll just go fix you a bottle-” 

Raphael glared. 

“A cup,” Magnus quickly corrected. 

“If you tell me where it is, I can just fix it myself,” Raphael tried to insist.

“It’s frozen, darling. I have to use my magic to thaw it. I doubt you want to wait a good two hours or so if you’re hungry now.” 

Raphael watched as he darted off to the kitchen leaving him sitting with Catarina. “You know I wouldn’t be surprised if he brought you a bottle one day.”

Raphael glared. “I’m very tempted to buy Madzie her very own drum set. You know she seems very musically inclined these days.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I just might have to if my friend doesn’t stop teasing me.”

Magnus returned then with a what was thankfully a mug filled with blood that had been heated to the exact right temperature. Instinctively, Magnus once again pulled Raphael into his lap. Thankfully he didn’t try to actually feed him but instead handed over the mug. Once again Catarina smirked at him. Her eyes danced with the suppressed laughter.

“Not a word. Not a single word.” 

 

2\. Alec

Alec was possibly worse about the lap thing than Magnus, but then again, Alec had always been a surprisingly affectionate guy. Thankfully, Alec also seemed to be aware of where they were before pulling his son into his lap. Well, usually he was aware. That day, Alec had been working at the institute. He had been holed up in his office when Raphael had stumbled inside with Clary and Isabelle following behind him. 

“What happened to you three?”

“Just had a little run in tonight is all. You can read about it in the report,” Isabelle assured as she and Clary plopped down into the two chairs opposite of him. Raphael, who was a bit too spoiled and also too at home in the institute, shoved aside some papers and plopped down on the edge of Alec’s desk.

All three were grinning which made Alec suspicious, but right then his attention was on their injuries. None of them were too bad off, but Alec noticed the way Raphael was cradling his hand to his chest even as he laughed. All it took was a swift movement, and then he had Raphael off the desk and onto his lap. 

“Let me see.” He took Raphael’s hand into his. Raphael had two broken fingers and what was likely a sprained wrist.

“It’s fine,” Raphael heaved out a sigh while trying to twist out of Alec’s hold. 

“They have to be set or they won’t heal right. Clary, could you hand me kit there?”

The first aid kit was there solely for Raphael’s use since unless the situation was dire, he would absolutely refuse to visit the institute’s infirmary. Clary handed it over, and Alec moving as swiftly and also as gently as possible realigned the two fingers before splinting them. Thankfully they would be healed by the next day if all went as it should. Alec handed the kit back but kept Raphael in his lap. 

“Are you going to let me up now?” Raphael grumbled as Isabelle and Clary both snickered. 

“Do you think you can go the last twenty minutes of my work day without getting any further injuries if I do?”

Raphael sighed and got comfortable. 

“That’s what I thought.”

 

3\. Simon

To be fair, neither of them had been intending for it to happen. One moment they had been fighting a demon together. The next moment they had both been flying through the air. Simon had hit the wall first, sliding down it to sit on the ground in a dazed heap. Raphael had landed on his lap only a moment later. During all of that mess, Magnus hit the demon with some major magic that sent it packing, effectively ending the fight, but both daylighters remained sitting for several long moments trying to get their heads to stop spinning. Sometime during that period, Simon’s hands had found their way around Raphael’s waist.

“Don’t you two look comfy,” Isabelle teased. Simon’s hands went up in the air immediately. 

“Don’t kill me, Rapha.”

Raphael rolled his eyes. Simon knew they were friends, and yet he still liked to joke around, treating Raphael as if he were a temperamental cat to be tiptoed around. 

“Why would I kill you when you saved my suit?” 

The nervous chuckle that fell from Simon’s lips made Raphael freeze in the process of standing up. “About that…,” Simon trailed off, and Raphael slowly turned and took a better look at Simon, or more specifically what it was that Simon was wearing. 

“Is that my suit?”

“You said I could borrow from your closet?”

“I said it once, and you took it as an open invitation! It’s been nearly a decade now!”

“Exactly, I thought you would have already said something if that invitation had been revoked.”

“I did! Many times!”

Neither noticed as the others left them behind. 

 

4\. Lily

They had been spinning around together trying to recall the exact steps to a dance that they hadn’t performed in decades. 

“No, right! You have to go right!” Lily insisted. Her cheeks were red from a mixture of plasma, gin, and dancing, and as she laughed, they only grew brighter. Raphael knew without looking that his own looked the same. “Here. Let me lead. You’ve led the last five.”

They switched their hold on each other and continued the dance. It went a little better for all of thirty seconds. Then she attempted to twirl him. They went flying. Limbs tangled, hair got caught in their jewelry, and soon they were sprawled on the floor in a heap. Lily sat up first then tugged Raphael up. He leaned back against her collarbone and joined her in laughing their heads off. They were left panting for unnecessary breaths. 

“I love when you laugh,” she said. The words came out distorted since she had her face pressed against his shoulder blade. “You should do it more often.”

“I can’t. It would ruin my reputation.”

A huff of laughter. “Yeah, sure it would.”

Raphael sat for a moment longer on Lily’s lap. It wasn’t like it was the first time. There was no shame or embarrassment between the two of them. They were best friends. They had decades of history between them. Eventually, he pulled himself off of her lap then reached down a hand to help her up. Once she was on her feet, he twirled her around and dipped her expertly.

“That’s how you spin a partner.”

5\. Jace

When Raphael ended up on Jace’s lap it was because of a bet. He personally had no involvement in the bet at first other than being a victim, but somehow he always managed to get sucked into their idiotic schemes. The whole group was at Pandemonium, and Raphael had left the table for exactly seven minutes which was apparently the exact amount of time the rest of them needed to come up with their plan. 

He had barely put down the round of drinks he had been annoyed into delivering to their table when Jace’s arm wrapped around his waist and sent him falling backwards onto a muscular lap. Raphael bristled, ready to yell when he felt a tapping where Jace had rested one arm loosely around his waist. Morse code then. 

Made a bet. You stay on my lap for fifteen, you get half. 

Raphael sighed and put his hand on top of Jace’s to reply. How much?

One hundred each. 

Okay yeah, he didn’t necessarily need money. Magnus spoiled him quite often, and embarrassingly enough Alec, though he always claimed it was extra for doing a good job on the consulting, was actually providing him an allowance. (Raphael was not completely hopeless at math despite what his current grades in the class were saying.) 

Still, he did tend to need money, especially since Madzie had convinced him to join her whenever she went out with a group of their classmates, and they had to act normal when around them. 

Fine. Fifteen.

It was an uncomfortable fifteen minutes, not because the others around the table were gawking at him or because he wasn’t comfortable being that close to Jace. No, it was uncomfortable because Jace fidgeted every three seconds, digging his surprisingly sharp knees into the back of Raphael’s thighs. He was all muscle too, and yeah, okay so were Papa and Dad, but Jace was just solid. There was not a bit of cushion anywhere on him. It was like sitting on one of those massage chairs that just punched you instead of massaging, and Jace obviously had no idea of how to be an accommodating piece of furniture. When the fifteen minutes were up, Jace was the one who stood to get the next round of drinks, sliding Raphael back onto a chair and acting as if the daylighter had no idea of the bet. 

The others, despite their attempts to be subtle, handed over their cash with mouths still gaping a bit. Raphael easily caught their awkward attempts and watched as Jace pocketed the money. He barely managed to hide his smirk when his uncle returned with the drinks and after taking the seat next to Raphael, stealthily slipped Raphael’s half of the cash into his jacket pocket. 

“Next time we’ll bet more.” 

+1 Meliorn

It happened at another of Magnus’s parties to no one’s surprise. Without warning, Meliorn suddenly took a seat in Raphael’s lap. He did it so smoothly and so confidently that for the first few minutes, no one even noticed, with the exception of Raphael. It was slightly difficult to not notice the presence of an aesthetically pleasing person in one’s lap after all. 

“Did someone dare you? Or was it a bet?”

“No and no,” Meliorn replied. Amusement laced his words. “Does that happen often?”

“Something like that, so why did you decide to join me then?”

“I wanted to.”

Meliorn couldn’t lie. He could deceive, but he couldn’t lie. Raphael had no desire to take advantage of that fact, and over the years of knowing Meliorn, he had developed special ways of phrasing things around the other man. Unfortunately, his brain was a little foggy right then, and so it didn’t come as naturally as usual.

“So-um-…?” What was it about Meliorn that made him become so awkward?. Had anyone else landed in his lap, Raphael would have resorted with one of two actions: 1. Toss that person aside with a witty remark. or 2. Comfortably embrace that person *coughMadzieLily&MaybeSimoncough* He wasn’t annoyed by Meliorn’s presence, but he wasn’t exactly comfortable with it either. His heart actually felt like it was beating just a little too fast. Was he having feelings? “I take it you had a reason for wanting to.” His voice was masked in a bravado he wasn’t quite feeling, but it was working. He hoped it was working.

“I enjoy looking into your eyes. They are enchanting.” 

The bravado was gone. Raphael could barely manage speaking at all never mind making his words sound confident and casual. “Are you trying to flirt with me?”

“Is it not obvious?”

“No, it is. I just don’t understand why.”

Meliorn leaned just a bit closer. “What is there to understand?” 

“You know I’m asexual.” Raphael was pretty sure everyone within the inner circle was aware of that fact.

“I know. What does that have to do with anything?”

“You enjoy sex.” 

“I do. I also enjoy conversations and just sitting close. Much like what we are doing now.”

Raphael would be lying if he said he didn’t find Meliorn to be interesting. His bond with the other had never quite fit into the categories that everyone else did. He wasn’t family. He wasn’t a stranger. He wasn’t an enemy or an acquaintance. He was similar to a friend, but when Raphael saw his friends with their significant others, he was either happy for them or annoyed by them. When he saw Meliorn flirt with others or move just a little too close to them, he found himself wondering what it would be like to be that person. 

“I would like to take to spend some time with you one day. Just us. Would you like to do that?”

“A date?”

Meliorn smiled. “If you would like it to be a date.” 

Before Raphael could answer, someone finally noticed what exactly was happening in the room, and of course, it was the someone who would make a big deal out of it. 

“No, nope. Not happening.” Magnus swung a friendly but firm arm around Meliorn’s shoulders to tug him off Raphael’s lap. “Not without a long discussion with me first.”

Raphael started to jump to Meliorn’s defense, but Meliorn waved him off. He had an amused look on his face. “And what will we be discussing?” 

“I’ll call you,” Raphael called as Magnus dragged Meliorn off to a more private location to chat. Alec plopped down in the chair next to him. 

“I like him. I think it’s a great idea.”

“You do?”

“He’s a great person, and the fact that he can’t lie about his intentions with you certainly is a bonus.”

“Dad.”

“I know. I know. You’re not a baby. If he survives that chat with Magnus, I’m sure you’ll have a great time going out with him, and even if it’s not a romantic thing, I think he could be a good friend.”

“Does he have to endure a chat with you too?” 

Alec smirked. “How about I won’t have any of those chats with him unless he hurts you?” 

Raphael could see Magnus and Meliorn chatting on the closed off balcony. Magnus had a hand up, lifting fingers as he listed off who knew what while Meliorn stood nearby smiling, nodding, and biting back laughter. Occasionally he would glance over at Raphael, and his smile would get just a bit softer. 

Raphael smiled back at him. “Don’t worry, Dad. I don’t think you’ll ever have to have one of those chats with him.”


	20. The Wedding Pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Practically a mini-series in itself. The next few chapters will cover the vow renewal and a few days following it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for your patience with how sporadic things have been lately!

The day of the vow renewals was coming up quickly. Plans had been made. Dios Mio had plans been made. The entire apartment was one large sea of glitter, fabric samples, and cake samples. Okay, the cake samples were actually very nice, but even his daylighter metabolism was beginning to lose the fight against those kind of calories. Two nights left, and then the wedding day would be upon them. Then all of this would become a distant 

“Rapha, darling, your opinion?”

Raphael dragged his eyeballs back from where they had been trying to roll up into his skull and looked at the three centerpieces. “That one,” he said pointing out one at random. In all honesty, planning a wedding was not the worst thing in the world. He enjoyed planning events actually, and since he had excellent taste, his events always turned out well. The problem occurred whenever Magnus was involved. Raphael did things simply and smoothly. He picked out things that went together and then managed to pull off tasteful events while making it all look effortless. The day of his events he handled any last minute emergencies with suave threats, an intimidating calmness, and a vast amount of resourcefulness until everyone somehow remembered their senses and did as they were expected to do. It had always worked in the past, but with Magnus, Raphael had met his match. 

“Did you even look at them?” Magnus picked up one of the centerpieces and shook it at him accusingly before falling dramatically onto the fainting couch. “Every second matters when the wedding is in less than forty-eight hours.” 

Magnus loved parties, but he was better at spontaneous ones than long-term planning. The longer he had to think, the more details that got added and the more things that got changed. Every other day Magnus would proclaim that he had planned the perfect wedding and all he had left to do was sit back and relax, and then the next day he would have scrapped everything and started over. Alec had attempted to help for only one week before surrendering. No one had blamed him.

“You know me, I’m a surprise guy. I just love surprises,” Alec had lied through a gritted smile. Even Isabelle had started to flounder after Theme 15, and Raphael had found himself the sole survivor of the wedding planning disaster of 2018. 

Magnus waved around one of the centerpieces, muttering about satin demons. Raphael raised an eyebrow. “Papa, how are you doing? Are you perhaps feeling a little stressed?”

“I just want this all to be perfect!” Magnus exclaimed. Then in a softer voice continued. “I want this day to be the wedding we remember. I want it to be a day filled with unparalleled happiness and not even the smallest trace of sadness or fear.” 

Raphael sighed. “Don’t go getting mushy on me. It takes away some of my pleasure when I mock you.”

Magnus glared. “You shouldn’t mock your papa anyway.”

“I’m just trying to provide you the authentic ‘parent of a teenager’ experience.” Raphael hopped off the couch and wandered around the room looking at the various samples. “Do you trust me?”

“In most ways,” Magnus replied with a soft smile.

“Then let me plan this for you. I already did the proposal. Let me take care of this part. All you have to worry about is what your bachelor party is going to be like.”

“Are you certain?” 

“I wouldn’t volunteer if I wasn’t certain. Your wedding is in two days. You and Dad should go do that whole traditional thing. He can stay at the institute and have his party, and you can go to Aunt Tessa and Uncle Jem’s place a day early.”

Since neither Alec nor Magnus had gotten much of a bachelors’ party the first time (or two times in Alec’s case), their best people had planned parties for them. Jace had planned Alec’s with Isabelle and Clary helping, and Catarina had planned Magnus’s with Tessa and Jem. Simon had darted between the two groups unable to pledge his loyalty to one more than the other. Apparently both were going to be appropriate for men who were already married, but Raphael had little interest in attending either. Call him a traditionalist, but he thought it was a little weird to be going to his parents’ bachelor parties, and like Simon, he didn’t know which one he would go to anyway.

“You are by far the best child a parent could ever have, even if you are a little bossy sometimes,” Magnus teased, clasping Raphael’s face between his hands. He pressed a kiss against Raphael’s forehead.“My little thundercloud.” 

Alec had a similar reaction when Magnus told him about Raphael’s offer. He had scooped up Raphael and spun him around in a hug. “You have saved the remainder of my sanity,” he told him. Then looking at Magnus, he grimaced. “Sorry, my love.”

“No offense taken, my Alexander. My sanity has been saved as well.”

Raphael had ushered them off at the first chance he got. Finally, he had the apartment to himself for a little peace and quiet before what was bound to be one of the most chaotic weekends of his life. Now, all he had to do was plan an entire wedding all over again in only a few hours. Fantastic.

Hours passed as he planned everything. He had finished with the actual ceremony itself but still needed to plan the reception. He collapsed on the sofa and looked over the potential menus. It was a given that magic would be involved. Numerous friends had offered to help take part. The only thing Raphael had to do once he completed the plans was to call each one up and give them the details of what exactly they would be “zapping’ into the ceremony. Somehow he thought that might just be the most exhausting part of it all. 

A knock sounded on the apartment door, and Raphael prepared himself to do the usual send-off. “High Warlock Magnus Bane is not available at the moment, but could I take a message?” Once again he didn’t get to use it since he opened the door to find Meliorn waiting on the other side. 

“Hello,” he greeted hoping that the awkwardness in his voice wasn’t evident. He hadn’t really spoken to Meliorn much since his return from the “dead” nearly a year and a half ago. There had been occasional conversations at parties, but from what Raphael heard from the downworld gossip, Meliorn had been preoccupied with business on the Seelie Queen’s behalf. 

“Hello,” Meliorn greeted with that warm smile of his. “I heard that you were handling the arrangements for the wedding, and I thought I would offer my services.”

Raphael relaxed. This was something he could do. “And where did you hear that?” 

“I have my sources.”

Raphael stepped aside. “I suppose I could use a little help.” 

Meliorn looked amused as usual. If Raphael was constantly long-suffering then Meliorn was constantly entertained. It was their default settings, but Raphael thought Meliorn’s was a bit more charming. Meliorn rather comfortably took a seat on the couch and patted the cushion next to him as if Raphael were the guest in the apartment. 

“What do you have left to plan?” he asked looking over the plans spread about on the coffee table and the screen of the laptop where Raphael had been searching for the trends he thought both Magnus and Alec might like. 

“Only the reception, but I could use another opinion on the ceremony as well.”

“Only the reception,” Meliorn repeated in what might have been disbelief. “Were you planning on not sleeping until after the wedding? I cannot imagine this task could be completed easily by just one person.”

Raphael shrugged. “They deserve the perfect day, and besides, there are two of us planning it now.” 

They worked through the rest of the night and just as the sun was beginning to rise, they finished the final details. 

“Now I just have to call the warlocks who are helping,” Raphael said around a yawn. He barely even startled when Meliorn’s hand appeared in front of his face to brush back some of his hair which had fallen loose from its gelled state. 

“It is too early to call yet,” Meliorn pointed out while slipping Raphael’s phone out of his hand. Raphael allowed him. “In the meantime, perhaps you should rest.” 

“No, there are still things that need to be handled, and -”

“Sleep now. The rest can be handled when you wake.” Meliorn’s voice was soothing, and Raphael found himself giving in to the pull of sleep.


	21. Malec Wedding pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a continuation of the Malec wedding mini-series. This one focuses on Meliorn and Raphael

Raphael woke to sunlight streaming in through the windows and a voice talking softly in the kitchen. 

“I merely helped him with some planning.” There was a pause. “He is fine. Sleeping.” 

Raphael pulled himself off the couch and made his way into the kitchen where Meliorn was quietly preparing a tea from some of Magnus’s stock. “Oh, he is awake now,” he said and handed Raphael’s phone over to him. “Your-Magnus.” 

Raphael pressed the phone to his ear. “Papa,” he greeted around a yawn. “Is there a problem?”

“Not unless you say there is one. Though I do think there might be some things we should talk about.” 

Raphael rolled his eyes. Meliorn pressed a mug of something hot into his hand, and he grinned at him in thanks. “It’s nothing that can’t wait. Why are you calling so early anyway?”

“It’s early?” Magnus asked, trying and failing to sound innocent. “What with the time difference here in Spain, I must have gotten confused.”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure that’s it. You’re not overly paranoid or anything.” Raphael could hear glasses clinking in the background. “How is Spain?”

“Wonderful! Tapas and drinks everywhere. Not to mention the beaches and the spas.” There were actual activities at Ibiza too, but Magnus tended to avoid those unless Raphael or Alec was there to convince him. 

“I’m glad to hear that. Now, was there a real reason that you’re calling because I do have things to get finished before your big day.”

“Oh yes, yes, my darling. So sorry to have interrupted you. I just had the most overwhelming feeling that I had left the stove on and wanted to make sure-”

“You do not cook.”

“I was making a potion and-”

“You don’t make potions on the stove either,” Raphael sighed. He heard a small chuff from Meliorn who had caught at least one half of their conversation. 

“Hm. That’s so strange. Well then, now that I’m certain that all is well, I will leave you to your planning and get back to my own celebrations.”

“I’m sure. When will Dad be calling to check on whether the bathroom sink is running?”

Magnus chuckled at that. “Be kind to your parents. We just worry.” 

It took another few minutes to get Magnus to actually hang up. Raphael was tempted at several points to end the call himself, but he didn’t want to deal with endless follow up calls or even a possible visit. 

When he returned to the living room, Meliorn was seated in front of a living and rooted flower arrangement. “I called the people on your list for you, and I took the liberty of assembling a sample floral arrangement.”

Raphael slid into the seat next to him and looked it over. “It’s beautiful.”

Meliorn smiled, obviously pleased by the compliment. “I based it on your color scheme. All these flowers will provide an atmosphere of happiness and will bless the union to be a long and faithful one. They will not die either, but they will grow larger if they are removed from their container and transplanted into the earth.”

“How many will there be?”

“Enough that the guests may take them as favors.”

Just as they had discussed the night before. 

“Thank you again for helping me with this though I am still don’t see why you would willingly want to get involved in such all this chaos.”

“Love is something that deserves to be celebrated. It is good to have this opportunity when we have had so much war and loss for so long.”

Raphael felt himself nodding. “It is nice to be handling seating arrangements rather than battle plans.” 

“I also wanted an opportunity to see you.” 

“It has been awhile since we have spent time with each other,” Raphael admitted. Back in the day, the two of them had often found themselves in each other’s company, especially at events involving the shadowhunters. Their similar senses of humor had kept them drawn together, trading gossip and commentary over the latest exploits of their community. 

“I also wanted to see if you had thought about my earlier proposal of a date.”

That was it then. Raphael would be lying if he said he hadn’t considered it. He would also be lying if he said that he wasn’t interested. For the first time though, he had felt shy at the thought of a relationship. He had had years to come to terms with his sexuality. He had dated. He had set boundaries with ease. However, this was different. This was someone who had known him as a friend first, who already knew what he was getting into. 

“I want to try it, but what happens if we do not work out?”

“Then we will return to our former camaraderie. I do not hold grudges, despite what any rumors may say, and I do not believe that you are the type to do so either.”

“Then, would you consider being my date for the wedding?”

Meliorn’s smile was beautiful. There was so much honesty, so much transparency with him that it was almost overwhelming. “I will happily be your date to the wedding.” 

“Of course, we have to finish getting this wedding together first.” 

Meliorn chuckled. “I believe the next thing on your list is a trip to the venue to make sure everything is set up.”

“Care to join me?”

“I am determined to see this through.”

Raphael checked the time. “We could stop and have breakfast first.”

“I know a good place.”

They had nearly made it out the door when Alec appeared. 

“You’re supposed to be at your bachelor party,” Raphael blurted out. 

Alec’s gaze lingered on Meliorn for a moment before quickly going back to his son. “I know. I know. I bet your Papa already called, but I really did leave something here and just need to grab it and get back. Do you happen to know where those hangover cures are? The last thing I need is Jace puking in the middle of the ceremony.” 

Okay. That was reasonable. Raphael darted back inside and grabbed enough potions for everyone at Alec’s party. Catarina had been in charge of packing for Magnus’s party and had made sure to provide her own stock of the drinks. He handed over the vials, and Alec shoved them into his pockets. 

“Thanks, Sweetheart.” He pressed a kiss to Raphael’s head. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Will you be there as well, Meliorn?”

“I will.” 

“I’ll see you both tomorrow then. Call me if there are any emergencies or just come get me. You know where I’ll be.”

He was down the stairs and out the building quickly enough that Raphael was surprised. Apparently, Meliorn being with him had only reassured Alec. 

Raphael turned to Meliorn again, hoping that the second encounter with his parents in one morning had not frightened the other man away. Meliorn was only grinning in amusement. 

“Breakfast?”

“Breakfast.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took a hiatus because I needed one, and it ended up going longer than planned. The current goal is to update this series twice a month going forward. Please check my profile or follow me on tumblr @ofteasandinks for updates. 
> 
> Sorry, this is short, but I'm trying to find the right voice for this series again. The next chapter will hopefully be longer.

**Author's Note:**

> Coming Up Next: (in no particular order)  
> Story 6: Phantom pains hurt more than they should.  
> Story 7: Magnus and Alec were definitely not expecting their son and his friends to barge in on them that night.  
> Story 8: Magnus and Alec decide it's time to have a marriage renewal. Now that their family is all together, it's time to go big!  
> Story 9: Father's Day, and all the kids are celebrating with their dads.  
> Story 10: Mother's Day. Magnus and Raphael remember their own mothers  
> Story 12: flashback to Magnus teaching Raphael how to drive, too bad he doesn't know how to drive himself  
> Story 13: Malec-centric- lust spell scenario  
> Story 16: Have to Have It: It's one of a kind and both Magnus and Raphael are determined to get their hands on it and display it in the apartment. they will outbid everyone in their path. Alec thinks it's hideous.  
>  
> 
> I am also up for any prompts that anyone wants to offer, so feel free to make requests! :)


End file.
